In India, the feeling of nationalism is associated with the anti-colonial movement. In the process of their struggle against the colonial yoke, people began to discover their own identity of belonging to one nation. Various folktales, songs, symbols like the national flag, tricolour flag gave a sense of identity to the people. It gave a true picture of India's culture which was so rich and uncorrupted. They served to produce a sense of achievement and to glorify India's past. They boosted Indians self-confidence who then strongly waged a war against the colonial rule.
(i) National song like Vande Mataram instilled a sense of belongingness uniting people from different languages. The identity of India came to be associated with Bharat Mata which was depicted as composed, divine and spiritual.
(ii) Folktales, songs, hymns were used by our national leaders to give a sense of pride in our culture.
(iii) Likewise Khadi, charka used by Mahatma Gandhi become symbols of agitation and resistance.
(iv) Folktales, songs, literature used by nationalists gave a true picture of India's culture which was so rich and uncorrupted.
(v) In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore himself began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths.
(vi) In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a massive four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The Folklore of Southern India which he believed was a national literature.
