January 26, 1950

Republic Day (India)

India becomes a republic and Rajendra Prasad takes office as president

Chief Justice Kania read the presidential oath in Hindi one sentence at a time, and Rajendra Prasad repeated each sentence back to him.

Durbar Hall, 26 January 1950

Under Article 394, the Constitution's remaining provisions came into force on 26 January 1950, replacing the Government of India Act 1935 as India's governing framework and ending the Dominion constitutional order.

Governor-General C. Rajagopalachari read a proclamation announcing that India — Bharat — was now a sovereign democratic republic; his office ceased with it.

In the Durbar Hall of the former Government House, before more than 500 guests, Chief Justice Hiralal Kania administered the presidential oath in Hindi to Rajendra Prasad, who repeated it sentence by sentence. Jawaharlal Nehru and the other cabinet ministers were sworn in after the president.

What this date is not

British colonial rule had ended on 15 August 1947; what ended on 26 January 1950 was the Dominion framework. The Constitution itself had been adopted on 26 November 1949 and signed by 284 of the Assembly's 299 members on 24 January 1950.

The original Preamble read "Sovereign Democratic Republic." The words "Socialist" and "Secular" were inserted by the Forty-second Amendment in 1976, which also added the Fundamental Duties.

Mysore's maharaja keeps an office

In Mysore, Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar adopted the Constitution by proclamation. Mysore became a Part B state of the republic, its existing assembly continued under Article 385, and the Maharaja served as Rajpramukh.

That was constitutional integration rather than initial accession. Mysore had executed its Instrument of Accession on 9 August 1947, accepted by the governor-general on 16 August.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes

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What the sources leave uncertain

The listed event’s wording that Mysore was “merged” on 26 January compresses several stages. Mysore had already acceded to the Dominion of India in August 1947; 26 January 1950 marks its full place in the republican Constitution as a Part B state, not its initial accession.