This article is about the national personification of India. For the painting by Abanindranath Tagore, see Bharat Mata (painting). For the Hindi film, see Mother India.
Bharat Mata
National personification of India
Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951).
Other names
Mother India
Affiliation
Bhudevi, Hindu goddesses Durga and Kali
Animals
Lion
Symbols
Red or saffron-colored sari, national flag, lotus, lion
Temples
Few temples in India, first inaugurated in Varanasi in 1936 by Mahatma Gandhi
An Illustration of Bharat Mata
Bharat Mata (Bhārat Mātā, Mother India in English) is a national personification of India (Bharat[1]) as a mother goddess. Bharat Mata is commonly depicted dressed in a red or saffron-coloured sari and holding a national flag; she sometimes stands on a lotus and is accompanied by a lion.[2]
The word Bharat Mata dates to late 19th century Bengal in modern literature. She was popularised by the Bengali language-novel Anandamath (1882), wherein she was depicted in a form inseparable from the Hindu goddesses Durga and Kali. After the controversial division of Bengal province in 1905, she was highlighted during the boycott of British-made goods organized by Sir Surendranath Bannerjee.[3] In numerous protest meetings, she was invoked in the rallying cry Vande Mataram (I bow to the mother).
Bharat Mata was painted as a four-armed goddess by Abanindranath Tagore in 1904, in the style associated with the Bengal School of Art, in a form derived from typical depictions of Hindu goddesses. This painting is displayed in the Victoria Memorial Museum in Kolkata. By the late 19th century, maps of India produced by the British Raj, and based on the Great Trigonometrical Survey, had become widely available. Over the background of a map, Bharat Mata was depicted on the cover of the poet Subramania Bharati's Tamil language-magazine Vijaya in 1909. In the decades following, she appeared throughout India in popular art: in magazines, posters, and calendars, becoming a symbol of Indian nationalism.
There are a handful of Bharat Mata temples in India. The first was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in Varanasi in 1936. The temple has a large marble relief map of India on its floor, but originally lacked a murti (divine image used for worship). On its wall is displayed a poem written for the inauguration by the nationalist Hindi language-poet Maithili Sharan Gupt; it proclaims the temple to be open to all castes and religions. Most visitors to the temple are foreign tourists.[4] Indian Muslims have opposed the chanting of her name, because in Islam, the divine cannot be worshipped in human form.
^McGregor, R. S. (1993). "bhārat". Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
^Visualizing space in Banaras: images, maps, and the practice of representation, Martin Gaenszle, Jörg Gengnagel, illustrated, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-447-05187-3
^"History lesson: How 'Bharat Mata' became the code word for a theocratic Hindu state".
^Singh, Ramendra (April 3, 2016), "A day in the life of Bharat Mata Mandir, Varanasi: Idol chatter", Indian Express, retrieved October 17, 2021
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of 'Bharat Ek Khoj', Nehru's character quizzes those chanting 'BharatMata ki jai' on what the phrase means". Scroll.in. 18 March 2016. "Bharat Ek Khoj...
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image of BharatMata formed with the Indian independence movement of the late 19th century. A play by Kiran Chandra Bandyopadhyay, BhāratMātā, was first...
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opposed to the materialism of the West. Tagore's best-known painting, BharatMata (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the...
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event in Rohtak that he would have beheaded people who refused to chant BharatMata Ki Jai if there was no law, but backtracked his statement a month later...
Biar Putih Tulang (Original proverb is "Biar putih tulang, Jangan putih mata", which roughly translates to "Better to die than to be a coward.") 4th Rangers:...
many branches in India and abroad. This trust includes the world famous BharatMata Mandir, Haridwar. He is referred as "Junapeethadhiswar Acharya Mahamandaleshwar...
and a leader of Indian Independence Movement. He wrote a book named 'BharatMata Ka Sandesh' during Bang Bhang movement. Rash Bihari Lal was born in 1866...
figures Authors Philosophy Cultural Hinduism BharatMata Hindu nationalism Hindutva Greater India Akhand Bharat Indianisation Indian influence on Southeast...
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to which a boy lied by saying "India". Varthaman reportedly chanted "BharatMata ki Jay", to which the locals responded with "Pakistan Zindabad". Then...
Delhi–Varanasi Vande Bharat Express". Indiarailinfo. Retrieved 1 December 2023. "New Delhi–Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express". Indiarailinfo...
science (DSc) degree during its convocation ceremony in Nagpur. Yashaswi Bharat. Prabhat Prakashan, 2021, (with a preface by M. G. Vaidya). Rashtriya Swayamsevak...
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