How did cultural process help in creating a sense of collective belongingness in India? Explain four points about Gandhiji’s idea of Satyagraha.
OR
“Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation”. Support the statement.
- THE sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles. But there were a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people’s imagination.
- History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of nationalism.
- The identity of the nation is most often symbolised in a figure or image.
- The image of Bharat Mata was created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
- Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata. In subsequent years, the image of Bharat Mata acquired many different forms.
- Vande Mataram as a hymn to the motherland widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal.
- Folklores and tales gave true picture of traditional culture that had been corrupted and damaged by outside forces. Therefore, nationalists began recording folk tales and legends.
- As the national movement developed, nationalist leaders became more and more aware of icons and symbolism in unifying people and inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism. During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolour flag was designed.
- History was also important means of creating a feeling of nationalism that gave pride in the nation.