Gender and Nationalism in Mother India

National identities and aspirations in the Indian context are often linked to women and the concept of motherhood. With political narratives being constructed around historical symbols, icons, and myths, the gendered nature of nations and nationalism can not be isolated from the Indian nationalist discourse. In the past, gender roles and ideals have been used to drive nationist movements, like the struggle for independence, and cultivate a common culture through which Indians can derive their identity. In this discourse, women are portrayed to be virtuous nationalists and mothers who fulfil their duty to the nation by raising kids and taking care of their families.

In his book, Reading Culture, Pramod K Nayar analyses how manifestations of culture create social meanings. In the chapter titled, ‘Screen Culture’ one of the things he speaks about is the interplay of gender and nationalism in the Hindi Film Industry. He points out the feminisation of ‘India’ in numerous songs and lyrics with the nation frequently personified as the mother or the beloved. This identity embodies a woman who is the object of desire and affection as well as a symbol of tradition. The woman represents morality and national virtue.

Mehboob Khan’s classic, Mother India, which was released just ten years after the independence of India, depicted the stark realities of the socio-economic and cultural life of a nascent nation where a vast majority of people lived in villages. It was immediately recognized as a cultural icon in its representation of the quintessential Indian woman, the virtuous ‘Bharatiya Naari’ who, by definition, was also a mother. The dynamics of personal courage, womanly ‘honour’, and steadfast adherence to the right and just are characterised by the protagonist, Radha. The resulting figure of the Mother in the film is a symbolic representation of the Indian nation. Mother India is proof of the way caste, class, and gender hierarchies often work in tandem in rural India and show how social inequality in our country is never one-dimensional. Through Radha’s resistance, the movie creates a prototype for a woman hero in Indian cinema. The female protagonist fighting and living on her terms in the face of oppression or opposition has created a lineage of strong female characters. Radha’s victimhood and empowerment are tied closely to the sexist notion of female bodily integrity and to the ideology of motherhood, which is perceived to be central to Indian values and beliefs.

Gender and womanhood are often defined in regards to the nation. Each nation assigns gender roles to its citizens. Nationalist politics used gendered identities to develop ideas of masculinity and femininity that describe the role of gender in shaping a country, as well as, how the nation is embodied in the imagination of self-proclaimed nationalists. Women, due to their incomplete subjecthood, have always had an unequal relationship with the nation-state. Feminism and nationalism do not fit together easily. Generally relegated to the margins, at times of nationalist struggle women have come to symbolise the honour and virtue of the nation. They become the icons, the mother figures for whom men are willing to lay down their lives. It is on this notion of womanhood that the cultural identity of the community and the nation is staked.

References

Nayar, P. K. (2006). Screen Culture. In Reading culture: Theory, praxis, politics. New Delhi: Sage Publications.