Question

Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan-Indian belonging.

Answer 1

Hint: A sense of collective belonging and shared heritage among all Indians is referred to as Pan Indian belonging.
The novels helped in popularising the sense of belonging to a common nation by making people recalling their heroic past.

Complete answer:
In India, novels created a sense of pan-Indian belonging.
In Bengal, many historical novels were about Marathas and the Rajputs which produced a sense of pan-Indian belonging. They assumed the nation to be full of adventure, heroism, romance and sacrifice-qualities that could not be observed in the offices and streets of the19th century world. The novel allowed the colonised to give a shape to their desires.

In 1882, a novel named Anandmath was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. This novel is about a secret Hindu militia that fights against Muslims to create a Hindu kingdom. Many freedom fighters got inspired by this novel.

In 1857, Budhadeb Mukhopadhyay wrote a novel named “Anguriya Binimoy”. Shivaji, the hero of the novel, engages in many battles against clever and deceitful Aurangzeb. The belief that he is nationalist fighting for the freedom of Hindus gives him courage.

The novels helped in popularising the sense of belonging to a common nation by making people recalling their heroic past. It was another way to include various classes in the novels so that they could be seen as belonging to a shared world. For instance, the novels of Premchand are filled with all types of powerful characters drawn from all classes of society.

Note: Women were also not just mere readers of stories written by men; soon they also began to write novels. In some languages, poems, essays or autobiographical pieces were the early creation of women. In South India, women began writing novels and short stories, in the early decades of the twentieth century.