Bharat Mata

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"

Meaning

Bharat Mata ("Mother India") is the picture of India as a mother goddess. Nationalists imagined her in writing and song, and Abanindranath Tagore painted her in 1905. Bowing to her came to be seen as proof that a person was a nationalist.

Why it matters: Bharat Mata turned the idea of "India" into one face that crores of people could see, love and serve. Because she was shown as a Hindu-style goddess, she is also NCERT's main example of a symbol that united some Indians but made others feel left out.

Explanation

Background: why a mother figure was needed

• A nation is made by more than protests, strikes and going to jail. It is also made by cultural work: songs, pictures, folk tales, flags and history books.
• This work gave people a sense of collective belonging (the feeling that crores of strangers were one "we").
• Part of this feeling came from fighting the British together.

• Images and songs kept the feeling alive between one struggle and the next.

• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the hymn "Vande Mataram" ("I bow to thee, Mother") in the 1870s.

• It was first printed in the journal Bangadarshan on 7 November 1875 [2].
• It was later put into his novel Anandamath (1882) [2].

• The hymn showed the motherland as a goddess. Anandamath had already sketched the idea of the country as a divine mother. Abanindranath later gave that idea a visual form [3].

• Rabindranath Tagore sang "Vande Mataram" at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Congress [2].

• After the Partition of Bengal (1905), the hymn was sung widely during the Swadeshi movement (the boycott of British goods and the use of Indian-made goods). It became a political slogan from 7 August 1905 [2].

The 1905 painting: main features

• Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata in 1905, at the height of the Swadeshi movement.
• She is shown as an ascetic (someone who gives up worldly comforts for a spiritual life). She looks calm, composed, divine and spiritual. She is not angry and not armed.
• She gives four gifts to her children: learning, food, clothing and spiritual strength.
• Britannica describes her as a four-armed goddess in a saffron/orange sari [3]. In her hands she holds:
• beads, for faith
• the Vedas, for knowledge
• paddy (rice) stalks, for food

• cloth, for clothing [3]

• Style: Abanindranath was the leading figure of the Bengal School of Art (often called its founder) [4].

• The Bengal School turned away from Western academic oil painting.
• It brought back Mughal and Rajput painting styles.
• It was influenced by the Japanese artists Okakura Kakuzo and Yokoyama Taikan [3][4].
• So the painting was itself a Swadeshi act: an Indian style used for an Indian symbol.

How the image changed over time

• Cheap prints spread her everywhere. Lithograph and calendar prints carried Bharat Mata into thousands of homes. People who lived far apart saw the same face.
• Later prints changed her look. Artists added:
• a trishul (trident)
• a lion

• an elephant

• These are signs of power and authority. The calm, giving mother of 1905 became a strong, protecting goddess.

• Devotion became a test of patriotism. Bowing to Bharat Mata was read as proof that you were a nationalist.

Results: unity and exclusion

• Unity: one shared image gave the movement great emotional power and reached people beyond the English-educated elite.
• Exclusion:
• Bharat Mata was a goddess, and "Vande Mataram" came from a novel with a Hindu devotional setting. Both drew on Hindu iconography (the religious images and signs of Hinduism).
• Nationalist history at the same time praised a mostly Hindu "golden age".

• So people of other communities felt left out.

• NCERT's warning: many groups joined the national movement with different hopes. Unity built on one community's symbols is fragile.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from the 1870s (the hymn) to the Swadeshi movement (1905 onwards) (the painting). The image stayed in use through the Gandhian era (1915–1948) through mass prints.
• Region: Bengal, especially Calcutta, the centre of the Swadeshi movement after the 1905 Partition.
• Key people:
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: wrote "Vande Mataram" and Anandamath.
• Abanindranath Tagore: painted Bharat Mata (1905).
• Rabindranath Tagore: sang the hymn at the 1896 Congress session.

• Dr Rajendra Prasad: announced the hymn's status as the National Song in 1950.

• How we know:

• the journal Bangadarshan (7 November 1875) and the novel Anandamath (1882) [2]
• the 1905 painting itself, described by Britannica [3]
• later lithograph and calendar prints showing the trishul, lion and elephant
• Constituent Assembly records: on 24 January 1950, Dr Rajendra Prasad said "Vande Mataram" had played so big a part in the freedom struggle that it should be honoured equally with the National Anthem. It was adopted as the National Song [2].

Don't confuse with

• "Vande Mataram": this is the hymn (words, by Bankim, 1875). Bharat Mata is the image (painted by Abanindranath, 1905). The hymn came first and imagined the mother. The painting gave her a face.
• Abanindranath Tagore vs Rabindranath Tagore: Abanindranath (the nephew) painted Bharat Mata and led the Bengal School of Art. Rabindranath sang "Vande Mataram" at the 1896 Congress and collected folk ballads.
• The 1905 painting vs later prints: the 1905 Bharat Mata is a calm, unarmed ascetic with beads, Vedas, paddy and cloth. The trishul, lion and elephant appear only in later prints. Questions often mix these up.
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay vs Tarinicharan Chattopadhyay: Bankim wrote "Vande Mataram" and Anandamath. Tarinicharan wrote the history book Bharatbarsher Itihas (1858).

Prelims Hooks

• Bharat Mata painting: Abanindranath Tagore, 1905, during the Swadeshi movement. She is shown as a calm ascetic.
• Britannica: four-armed, in an orange/saffron sari, holding beads, the Vedas, paddy stalks and cloth [3].
• Trap: the trishul, lion and elephant belong to later prints, not to Abanindranath's 1905 painting.
• "Vande Mataram": Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. First printed in Bangadarshan, 7 November 1875; later included in Anandamath (1882) [2].
• Order of events: 1875 hymn published → 1882 Anandamath → 1896 Rabindranath sings it at the Calcutta Congress → 7 August 1905 it becomes a political slogan → 1905 Bharat Mata painted → 24 January 1950 adopted as the National Song, honoured equally with the National Anthem [2].
• Abanindranath was the leading figure of the Bengal School of Art, which revived Mughal and Rajput styles and was influenced by Okakura Kakuzo and Yokoyama Taikan [4].

Mains Points

• Nationalism is built, not found.
• Bharat Mata turned an abstract idea of "India" into a face people could see, worship and serve.
• Cheap calendar prints carried her far beyond the English-educated elite. This helped the mass mobilisation of the Gandhian era.

• Cultural work and political agitation were two arms of one movement.

• Symbols unite and divide at the same time.

• A Hindu goddess image, a hymn from Anandamath, and a "glorious Hindu past" gave the movement great emotional force.
• They also pushed Muslims and other communities to the edges of the national picture. When devotion to Bharat Mata became a test of patriotism, those who would not bow could be called less loyal.

• A GS-I answer can link this cultural root to communal politics after 1937 and the Partition of 1947.

• Change in the image shows change in the mood. The image moved from a calm ascetic who gives learning, food and clothing (1905) to an armed goddess with trishul, lion and elephant. This shows nationalism moving from cultural self-reliance (Swadeshi) to a stronger claim of power and authority. The Bengal School style also shows art itself becoming a form of Swadeshi.

Related concepts

• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
• Vande Mataram
• Anandamath
• Abanindranath Tagore

Read more

• Imagining the nation: the sense of collective belonging