The Question of the Role of Traditional Symbols in the Construction of the Indian Nation during the Colonial Period (1880s – 1917)

Abstract

The article examines the role of traditional symbols in the process of building the Indian nation during the colonial period. The author focuses on a number of elements of traditional Indian culture that were significantly transformed and gradually acquired fundamentally new meanings as national identity concepts emerged. Analyzing the evolution of this symbolism reveals the complexity and contradictions embedded in the nation-building process in colonial India.

The study showed that the transformed religious symbolism and the concepts arising with its involvement could have various options for interpretation and perception within the colonial society. Firstly, the poem “Vande Mataram”, written by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay in the second half of the 19th century, emerged as a central symbol in the movement against the partition of Bengal in 1905–1907. Secondly, the transfer of traditional ideas about the varnacaste structure of society to the modern context allowed for the conception of nation as a “horizontal partnership”, even in the face of the persistent caste inequality within Indian society. Thirdly, the demand for swaraj, articulated in the early 20th century, in this formulation, enabled some colonial figures to deliberately differentiate it from the Western concept of sovereignty or to significantly broaden its interpretation. Initially framed as a call for dominion status within British India, the concept of swaraj began to evolve for several Indian thinkers, particularly A. Ghose, who came to view it as a quest for liberation from Western influence and a return to the ancient foundations of Indian society.