Bharat Mata (Hindi, from Sanskrit भारत माता),
Mother India, or Bharatamba (from अंबा amba'mother')
is the national personification of India as
a mother goddess. She is usually depicted as a
woman clad in an orange or saffron sariholding a flag, and sometimes
accompanied bya lion.
The image of Bharat Mata formed
with the Indian independence movement of the late 19th century. A play by Kiran
Chandra Bandyopadhyay, BharatMata, was first performed in 1873. Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyay's 1882 novelAnandamath introduced the hymn "Vande
Mataram" which soon becamethe song
of the emerging
freedom movement in
India. Abanindranath
Tagoreportrayed Bharat Mata as a four-armed Hindu goddess wearing
saffroncolored robes, holding a book, sheaves of rice, a mala, and a white
cloth.
In 1936, a Bharat Mata temple was built in Benaras by Shiv Prashad Gupt
and was inaugurated by Mohandas Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi said, "I hope this
temple,which will serve as a cosmopolitan platform for people of all
religions,castes,and creeds including Harijans, will goa great way in promoting religious unity, peace, and love
in the country.