Bharat Mata and her revolutionaries

The 'Ghadar' Party-I

The visual persona of Bharat Mata which originated in the Bengal spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to the western part of India however, the Bharat Mata as the Mother Goddess

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received attention outside the nation through the long-distance patriots and the fierce revolutionaries.

One of such Punjabi and Sikh dominated revolutionary party named ‘Ghadar’ that flourished in North America from around 1913 into the 1940s,

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published numerously the cartographic image of Bharat Mata in Punjabi (Persian and Gurumukhi scripts), Urdu, Hindi and English that celebrate Indian martyrs and called for armed revolution to overthrow the colonial regime.

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The image on the title page of Hindi Anthology ‘Deshbhakti Ke Geet’ published by the Hindustan Ghadar Press, San Fransico in 1916, features words, “Swatantrata ke Liye Bharat ke Kara Mein Kadak” (Steadiness in the Service of Indian Independence).

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Further, it also shows sari-clad Bharat Mata in the process of drawing out a sword incorporated on the cartographic landscape with the head of the lion. Along with the sword, the rifles in the image urges the sons of Bharat Mata...

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to arm themselves with modern weapons and battle against a colonial state.

The inspiration for such an armed cartographic image of Bharat Mata was from the pages of a newsmagazine (banned in British India) ‘The Bande Mataram’ (financially supported by Bhikhaji Cama)

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in Europe that migrated to the United States. Another reason for such an inspiration would be one of Bhikaji’s associates ‘Har Dayal’ who was editor of the news magazine and a key instigator of the Ghadar movement in the United States.

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Image (Original) Reference: Title page of the Hindi book
Deshabhakti ke Geet (Songs of National Devotion). Hindustan Ghadar Press, San Francisco, 1916. (© British Library Board [APAC: Proscribed Publications
Collection], PP Hin F 43)

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Reference: The Goddess and the Nation- Mapping Mother India, by Sumathi Ramaswamy. Duke University Press, Durham & London.

Note: The Image & illustrations are used for purely ‘educational purpose’

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