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concept:movement bengal renaissance

Bharat Mata (Mother India)

Watercolor by Abanindranath Tagore (1905). Four-armed female figure in saffron sari — allegory of the Indian nation as goddess — holding paddy, book, cloth, and prayer beads. Painted during the Partition of Bengal agitation and became an icon of Indian nationalism. Held at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.

Scholarly Significance

Bengal Renaissance / Indian nationalist iconography anchor.

Notes

  • ·Painted during the partition of Bengal agitation (1905).
  • ·Immediately reproduced as a print and widely circulated within the nationalist movement.
  • ·The foundational image of the nationalist goddess-as-nation tradition.