Mythologizing the Nation – Sculpting the modern nationalist citizen based on contemporary

history and mythology

Review of “The Nation as Mother” by Sugata Bose

(based on my understanding)

The concept of the nation as "Mother India" has deep roots in Hindu mythology and texts like
the Puranas. Figures like Bharatmata have been personified as goddesses.
There are contradictions between conceiving of the nation as a mother figure and the actual
social status of women. The “nurturing”, “self-sacrificing” mother imagery clashes/creates a
contradiction with gender inequities.

Nationalist thinkers like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay used mythology and history to
inspire political awakening and devotion in the nation. His song "Bande Mataram" evokes
traditional imagery while advocating political ideals. (this has been given in the book’s first
chapter)

However, conceptions of the modern citizen were elite-driven and often patriarchal. The
values imputed to women and peasants were defined by educated, privileged men (subaltern
angle to be explored).

Still, the narrative allowed some opening for the marginalized to find a place within the
independence struggle, by valorising simpler lifestyles and anti-colonial self-sufficiency
(nationalist narrative built. This angle is to be explored as well).

Basically, mythology and history were selectively invoked by nationalist elites to arouse
political fervour and sculpt an ideal of the “devoted”, “self-sacrificing” “patriotic” citizen.
This idealized imagery papered over persisting gender and class divides even while allowing
some space for their indirect critique.

*The word patriotic itself is derived from Greek patriṓtēs, “fellow-countryman or

lineage member.” The word has roots in “fatherland”, “paternal”. The root of this
word, in turn, also derives words like “paternal”, “patriarchy”, and even English's own
“father”.*
This angle is a nascent idea that I had, I am yet to explore this and create a proper
contradiction between the nation being portrayed as a maternal figure and the idea of
being connected to this nation being patriarchal.

The concept of nation as mother, or "Bharat Mata" in the Indian context, had a powerful
effect on the political and cultural imagination in the late 19th and early 20th century.

It evoked a strong emotional and devotional response among the people, inspiring self-
sacrificing love and willingness to make supreme sacrifices for the motherland.
Revolutionaries went to the gallows shouting "Bande Mataram!" - the motherland was the
object of their affective patriotic attachment.

The nurturing, maternal imagery resonated with cultural tropes as it built on existing Hindu
veneration of goddesses. So the national devotion drew on already-familiar forms of religious
“bhakti” and “shraddha”. This made the abstraction of the nation more tangible.

(However, the concept also papered over very real gender inequities in Indian society. By
projecting the self-sacrificing mother image, it glossed over forms of gender oppression even
while mobilizing popular participation.)

Personifying the nation made territorial integrity and protection of national boundaries seem
like safeguarding the body of the mother. This contributed to seeing partition as almost a
matricidal act that violently dismembered the maternal national body. – Parshuram example –
Stories of Parashuram, who killed his mother on his father's orders, have been invoked in
modern times to critique partition and divisions of the "Motherland."

The mother iconography usually conceived the children as sons, valorising a patriarchal,
patrilineal national family. The role imagined for women within the independence struggle
was generally confined to non-threatening "feminine" acts of service. Creates a contradiction
between constructing an allegory of mother for the nation and also giving “non-threatening”
and “feminine” roles to women.
In multiple ways, casting the nation as mother had far-reaching impacts on political thought,
mass culture, gender relations, ideas of territoriality and community belonging in the colonial
era. The resonances of this creative conception continued to echo well into the postcolonial
period as well.
*Angle of postcolonial and post-colonial perspectives on casting the nation as mother
and how it fits in the meta narrative of the nationalists.*

Contradiction with Women's Roles

While Bharat Mata evoked the qualities of “selflessness”, “nurturing”, “life-giving

sustenance”, actual women were confined to “secondary”, “feminine” acts of “service and
sacrifice” during the freedom struggle.

Women like Sarala Devi Chaudhurani and Kamini Roy wrote devotional poems to the
motherland. Others provided Swadeshi social service. But frontline leadership roles were
almost universally held by men.

Even when deified as “Bharat Mata”, the qualities admired were mythical paragons of
“wifely loyalty” like Sita and Savitri.
Qualities that might subvert gender roles were discouraged.

So the maternal imagery was more allegorical and symbolic – it did not translate to
promotion of gender equality within the nationalist movement itself. Using the rhetoric of
desh bhakti for the mother nation, patriarchal norms controlling women’s participation
persisted.

Factors Behind Using the Mother Imagery

Longstanding Hindu philosophical principles like Prakriti and Shakti provided cultural
antecedents for using the Mother symbolism.
Local deities like Bengal's Bangamata made it resonate at a provincial level before expansion
to Bharat Mata.

It built on past practices like worship of Prithvi Mata (Mother Earth), representing fertile,
life-sustaining qualities now attributed to the nation.

Enabled moral mother-child analogy - citizens as Mother's "good children", inspire qualities
and values and morals like inheritance of ethical duties and more.

So in multiple ways, the mother image proved politically expedient while carrying psycho-
cultural resonance. But it rang hollow for the actual lived experience of Indian women. The
same contradiction.

The iconography of the nation as mother was actively promoted and disseminated through
various forms of popular culture and nationalist discourse in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.

1. Prominent writers like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay created hugely popular

literature that evoked Bharat Mata. His song “Vande Mataram”, although not the
National Anthem, but became the anthem of Indian nationalism, spreading the
maternal imagery widely.

2. Prominent artists like Abanindranath Tagore produced allegorical paintings that

portrayed Mother India in vivid visual form. Reproductions were widely circulated
and used in nationalist propaganda.

3. The concept was taken up and expounded passionately by virtually all major
nationalist politicians, philosophers and orators of the time, including Aurobindo,
Bipin Chandra Pal, and others writing in journals and giving public speeches.

4. A huge volume of devotional nationalist poetry, songs and hymns glorifying the
motherland were created during this period, especially in regional languages. Poet-
patriots brought the metaphor into the vernacular for mass impact.
 5. The maternal imagery was incorporated into political poems, stage plays, early silent
cinema newsreels, satirical cartoons etc. spreading it across cultural media and among
non-literate sections too.

6. Invocation as a slogan during marches, riots, revolutionary activities further

embedded it directly as part of lived experience and political vocabulary, passed on
intergenerationally.

So through multi-pronged cultural reproduction and active promotion, Bharat Mata formed a
critical part of the fabric of nationalist discourse in pre-Independence India.

Critique –

1. It papers over real gender inequities rather than addressing them concretely.
Allegorizes women’s role rather than reforming gender relations.

2. Presents one homogenized mother figure seen from a patriarchal, Hindu perspective –
(ignores India’s ethnic, religious diversity; excludes minorities).

3. The nurturing, self-sacrificing imagery creates scope for the nation/state to demand
complete, unquestioning loyalty and submission from citizens.

4. It imposes an intolerable burden on actual women - they must contort themselves to

fit the ideal maternal image, foreclosing other identities. As seen in Tagore's “Devi”.

5. Territorial integrity of mother figure used to justify violence against secessionist

movements and forceful retention of disputed territories and boundary states like
Kashmir. (peripheries/periphery states)

6. Obscures class, caste, other internal fractures by overstressing common parentage - all
Indians seen as Mother's children regardless of deeper inequalities.
 7. Contemporary militant nationalism often weaponizes the Mother imagery – critiques
of the state seen as betrayal of the mother. Dissent is delegitimated ad discouraged
rather strongly.

So in multiple ways, the maternal metaphor risks distorting gender relations, minority rights,
dissent and free expression rather than supporting them. Producing an allegory of the nation
as mother is too emotive and essentialist an iconography for a diverse, democratic polity –
this statement is to be explored and explained in detail yet.