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ABSTRACT
The religious veneration of Bharat Mata began with the three temples honouring her in the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Varanasi, Haridwar, and Ujjain. They symbolise the nation by anthropomorphising the territory and establish the relationship between nation-divine and its citizen-devotee through ‘darshan’ wherein the latter is imbued with feelings of patriotism. By studying the narratives emerging from these spaces, referred to as temple publics, it has been argued that they are reflective of majoritarian politics, where the aim is to construct a new religion called nationalism, with Bharat Mata at its helm and a set of rituals and unique traditions.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 All photographs were taken by the researcher during their field study in 2018, as a part of their doctoral thesis. The identities of the some of the interviewees have not been disclosed, as requested by them. The researcher is thankful to the interviewees at the three temples for their engagement and responses.
2 In an interview with the temple staff, the Samanya Seva Trust in Haridwar stated that it aims at constructing around one hundred and one statutes of Bharat Mata, if not temples in her name, spread across India.
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Notes on contributors
Isha Tirkey
Isha Tirkey is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of North Bengal. She has been awarded her degree for doctoral thesis from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.