Question

How did the people belonging to different communities, regions, or
language groups develop a sense of collective belonging?

Answer 1

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.