Bharat Mata

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.