Bankim Chandra, Bharatmata, and Bhawani Mandir: The Ascetic Hero in Anandamath

The fundamental issue this paper grapples with is the ascetic hero in Anandamath. Though the ascetic model during the nineteenth century may have gained acceptance and authority among nationalist ideologues as an indigenous ideal to counter imperial dominance, it is not far-fetched to note that this process led to the formulation and legitimisation of diverse entities, primarily that of the ‘Hindu’ ascetic. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to trace and analyse the ascetic ‘ideal’, typifying the Indian nationalistic discourse. As this paper claims the relation between the transformed ascetic model and the larger social world in nineteenth and twentieth century India, I argue that ascetic culture is a key area for political and religious thinking in modern India. Rather than configuring the ascetic as a pre-modern remainder, I confront it as the emergent zone where new possibilities and new identities were/are forged. Hence, I have tried to demonstrate not a history of the ascetic model, but a history made by the ascetic ideal. The narrative produced by Bankim Chandra is investigated in this paper not just as an ‘illustration’ of the ascetic model, nor as a history of the ascetic per se. Rather, an attempt has been made to show how the ascetic subject was an integral element of the nationalistic thought (still) in the making.