New Parliament building "India"

The sengol, their story goes, was used to officially transact the transfer of power on August 14, 1947. The government of independent India needed a material signifier of sovereignty, Rajaji contacted a Saiva Adheenam, and subsequently a Madras jeweller fashioned a neo-Chola sceptre. This artefact was then conveyed to New Delhi by a delegation of sadhus who played a game of passing-the-parcel between themselves, Lord Mountbatten, and Nehru, with a sprinkling of Ganga-jal or Go-mutra after each turn.