1) Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation and when they discover some unity binds them together
2) This sense of collective belonging united people belonging to different communities, regions or languages by experience of many united struggles.
3) There were also a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people’s imagination. History and fiction, folklore, and songs, popular poems and symbols, all played a vital role in the making of nationalism
4) The identity of nation is often symbolised in a figure or image. It was in the 20th century with the growth of nationalism that the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata.
5) The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and in the 1870s he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.
6) Moved by Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata. In this painting, Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure, she is calm, composed, divine and spiritual.
7) Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore. In the late 19th century India, nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards and they toured villages to gather folk songs and legends.
8) These tales gave a true picture of traditional culture that had been corrupted and damaged by outside forces. It was thus, essential by people of India to preserve this folk tradition in order to discover one’s national identity and restore a sense of pride in one’s past