Flag of Nepal

The flag of Nepal

The national flag of Nepal (Nepali: नेपालको झण्डा) was created in December 1962. It is the only national flag in the world that doesn't have four sides.

The current flag was adopted on 16 December 1962, along with the formation of a new constitutional government. It borrows from the original, traditional design, used throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and is a combination of the two individual flags used by rival branches of the ruling dynasty.

Appearance

It has a combination of two red pennants with the large blue border around the unique shape of two overlapping right triangles: the smaller upper triangle bears the white stylised moon (the rising sun on the horizontal crescent moon) and the larger lower triangle displays the white twelve-pointed sun.

Incorrect versions

A flag used for Nepal at some 2016 Summer Olympics venues

Because of the Nepalese flag's unique shape, its large-scale reproduction is difficult. It is sometimes put on a white area to make the flag a rectangle; an example is the Nepalese flag used at some venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics where the flag design was placed on a cloth with the same shape as other flags at the Olympics, with the rest of the flag left white.

During a visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Janakpur, a version of the flag with incorrect shape was flown by officials, causing controversy.