A B Nepal’s is the only national flag that isn’t a rectangle. The Constitution doesn’t give its size: it tells you how to draw it with a ruler and compasses, starting from a single line, in 24 steps.
Step 1 of 24
Start with one line Near the bottom of a crimson cloth, draw a line AB from left to right. It can be any length: the whole flag is drawn from it, so a longer line makes a bigger flag.
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Finished flag
All 24 steps Start with one line. Near the bottom of a crimson cloth, draw a line AB from left to right. It can be any length: the whole flag is drawn from it, so a longer line makes a bigger flag.Up the side. From A, draw a line AC straight up, a third longer than AB. Mark D on it so that AD is as long as AB, and join B to D.Mark E. On the line BD, mark E so that BE is as long as AB. (Open the compasses to AB and swing them from B.)Across through E. Through E, draw a line FG level with AB, starting at F on the line AC. Make FG as long as AB.The two pennants. Join C to G. The shape A, B, E, G, C is the flag: two pennants, one above the other.Where the moon and sun sit. Mark H on AB, a quarter of the way along, and draw a line HI straight up from it to CG. The middles of the moon and the sun are both on this line.Halfway up CF. Find J, halfway between C and F, and draw a line JK level with AB, from J to CG.L. Call L the point where JK crosses HI.J to G. Join J to G.M. Call M the point where JG crosses HI.N. Measure the shortest distance from M to the line BD. Mark N that far below M, on HI.Level with M. Draw a line through M level with AB, starting at O on AC.The bottom of the moon. With the compasses on L, opened to N, draw a half circle below. It meets the line OM at P and Q.The crescent. With the compasses on M, opened to Q, draw another half circle below, from P to Q. Between the two half circles is the moon’s crescent.R, S and T. With the compasses on N, opened to M, draw an arc that cuts the first half circle at R and S. Join R and S, and call T the point where RS crosses HI.The tips of the moon’s rays. With the compasses on T, opened to S, draw a half circle above.The bottom of the rays. With the compasses on T, opened to M, draw a smaller arc above. (Drawn all the way round, it makes the moon’s middle.)The moon. Between the two arcs, draw eight equal triangles, side by side. The circle about T is white too, and its bottom joins the crescent: the moon is done.Where the sun sits. Find U, halfway between A and F, and draw a line UV level with AB, to the line BE.The sun’s middle. Call W the point where HI crosses UV. With the compasses on W, opened as wide as MN, draw a circle.The sun’s outside. With the compasses still on W, opened as wide as LN, draw a bigger circle round it.The sun. Between the two circles, draw twelve equal triangles, with the tips of two of them on the line HI. The sun is done.The border. All round the flag, add a deep blue border as wide as TN, its corners as sharp as the flag’s own.Rope or pole. That is the flag. One last rule: the border is for a flag flown on a rope; on a pole, the border on the pole’s side can be widened to make room for it.From Schedule 1 of the Constitution of Nepal (2015), in our own words. Use the arrow keys to step through.
