How did people belonging to different communities, regions or language groups in India
develop a sense of collective belonging? Elucidate.
Answers
The cultural processes helped in creating a sense of
collective belongingness in India:
a. Nationalism is a belief that all are a part of the
same nation which binds the people together and
make different communities, regions and language
groups united.
b. This came through the muted struggles like the
different Non-Cooperation Movements, Civil
Disobedience movements, the wars like 1857,
history, fiction, folklores, folk songs, prints, icons
and symbols etc. all these helped in unifying the
Indians and inspired a feeling of nationalism in
them.
c. The image of India was first visualized as Bharat
Mata by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and
also a hymn ‘Vande 3 Mataram’ was written by
him in 1870s. This hymn was later included in
his novel Anandmath and sung in the Swadeshi
Movement in Bengal. The image of Bharat
Mata was portrayed as calm, composed, divine
and spiritual which acquired different forms in
different years by different artists. This image of
India developed the ideas of nationalism in India.
d. The Indian folklores were revived and the folk
tales were recorded and sung by bards which gave
a true picture of the traditional Indian culture
and tells how it was ruined by the Britishers.
e. A tricolor swadeshi flag, using red, green and yellow
was designed during the Swadeshi Movement in
Bengal which had 8 lotuses for the representation
of the 8 provinces and a crescent moon for
symbolizing the Hindus and the Muslims.
f. A tricolor Swaraj flag was designed by Gandhiji
in the year 1921 using the colours red, green and
white. A spinning wheel was in the Centre of the flag which represented the Gandhian ideal of self-
help.