The post-independence era of the 1950s saw the construction of nationalism through deeply gendered metaphors, particularly the image of the mother unified with the newly formed nation. Concepts such as Mother India (Bharat Mata), mother tongue, and motherhood became potent symbols that invoked patriotic sentiment and shaped regional and national identities. The portrayal of the nation as a mother figure reinforced allegiance among male citizens while suppressing dissent, ensuring that they accepted sacrifices, whether economic hardship or political repression.

The Symbolism of Bharat Mata

The metaphor of Bharat Mata was instrumental in constructing an idealized vision of womanhood, intertwining religious, cultural, political, and aesthetic spheres. This image fluctuated between depictions of strength and subjugation—ranging from the powerful goddess figures of Durga and Kali to the suffering widow and enslaved victim. Through these varied representations, women’s emotional states became a reflection of the nation’s moods and struggles. However, despite the prominence of female symbolism, actual women were largely excluded from positions of political power and social agency.

The Bharat Mata temple in Banaras, built in the 20th century, provides a striking example of this gendered nationalism. The temple features a physical relief map of India, embedding the image of the female body within a fixed, bounded space. Ostensibly aimed at fostering unity between Hindus and Muslims, the symbolism of the temple was nevertheless steeped in Hindu upper-caste ideology. The parallel metaphor of the cow as mother further underscored this Hindu-nationalist narrative, sidelining diverse perspectives and identities within the Indian subcontinent.

Gendered Violence and National Honour

While the feminization of the nation sought to unify its people, it also reinforced patriarchal control over women’s bodies. Women’s honour became synonymous with national pride, making them vulnerable to exploitation and violence. This was especially evident during the Partition, when women endured not only poverty but also violent struggles over their bodies as sites of communal and national contestation.

The theme of protecting Bharat Mata often extended to calls for masculine duty (mardaangi), further legitimizing the policing of women’s autonomy. This was exacerbated in conflict-ridden regions such as Kashmir and Manipur, where the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) granted sweeping powers to the military, leading to severe human rights violations, including mass rapes, sexual violence, and torture. Under military rule, the homes of Kashmiri women became sites of surveillance and subjugation, blurring the lines between the domestic sphere and the battlefront. Similar patterns of gendered violence emerged in Manipur, where AFSPA facilitated systemic abuses against women with impunity.

The Patriarchal Framework of National Identity

The use of gendered metaphors in constructing national identity has had lasting implications for women’s roles in society. Women’s virtues and accomplishments continue to be defined in relation to their roles as mothers, wives, and daughters, rather than as autonomous individuals. Their sacrifices are normalized, reinforcing expectations of selflessness and submission within both the private and public spheres.

In Southeast Asia, community honour operates within patriarchal frameworks that dictate gender roles in both public and private spaces. The portrayal of women as symbols of purity and sacrifice has systematically undermined their agency, subjecting them to cycles of control, violence, and political marginalization.

Conclusion

The deeply entrenched gendered metaphors that shape nationalism in India have reinforced patriarchy while simultaneously invoking powerful imagery of women as the soul of the nation. While the iconography of Bharat Mata has played a crucial role in mobilizing national identity, it has also contributed to the systemic erasure of women’s autonomy. Understanding these narratives is essential in challenging the structures that continue to subordinate women in the name of cultural and national pride.

The honour of the woman became sacred to the nation, and fending her body from outside male disrupting agents became an equally important task. The common woman during the partition was facing the double struggle against poverty as well as the competition among men from various religions on acquiring physical possession over her body. The conflict between India and Pakistan over the regal crown of Jammu and Kashmir has etched lines of bloody violence on the borders. The implementation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) led to gross human rights violations as well as the widespread sexual exploitation, torture and abuse of especially women in the State. Arrest without warrant and search operations done by the army arbitrarily have rendered Kashmiri women helpless and a subject of their sexual pleasure as well as infliction of violence.[4]. The State and the army have been hand in glove and have adopted a misogynist course where the domestic homes of Kashmiri women have become sites subjected to militaristic gaze. The army has been accused of mass rapes under military control authorised by the patriarchal State and thereby leading to the blurring of the lines between the domestic sphere and the battlefront. Thus, Kashmiri women have been helpless victims of both military and militant suppression. Similar is the situation in Manipur, where the AFSPA has been implemented[5] and in a similar manner, army violence against women is very common. Under draconian powers provided to the army, it has spread gendered violence in private spaces as well as failed to protect or gain the trust of the very citizens for whose security they were deployed.

Thus, community honour within Southeast Asia has varied thresholds and meanings within the public and private spheres subjugated by male dominance.

[1] Thapar, Suruchi. “Women as Activists; Women as Symbols: A Study of the Indian Nationalist Movement.” Feminist Review, no. 44, 1993, pp. 81–96. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1395197.

[2] Gupta, Charu (Nov, 2001), The Icon of Mother in Late Colonial Northern India ‘Bharat Mata’, ‘Matri Bhasha’ and “Gau Mata’, Economic and Political Weekly, 4291-4299.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Seema Kazi (2009) “Between Democracy and Nation: Gender and Militarisation in Kashmir”, http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2018/1/U501665.pdf.

[5] Bhonsle, Anubha (2016), ‘Indian Army, Rape Us’ The Fascinating and Moving Story behind the unique protest in 2004 by 12 Imas in Imphal, Manipur. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/indian-army-rape-us/296634.

Saanya Vashishtha and Shreya Tiwari both are final year students at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University