I have deliberately used the phrase, “love for the country” because that is one of the clearest definitions of the term “nationalism.” We can use the Indian freedom struggle as a historical backdrop of sorts. The one common element, the quintessential strand that fused and animated the freedom struggle was nationalism. This nationalism was not merely expressed in its outward, physical manifestations like political rallies, demonstrations, violent and non-violent resistance, it informed and revealed itself for example, in the paintings of Abanindranath Tagore, in the poetry of Subramania Bharati, in the novels of Bankim, in Kannada songs written for schoolchildren extolling India…the list is nearly endless. The fact that India produced perhaps the most prolific and best output in almost all fields during—roughly—the century of freedom struggle is not at all coincidental. While the Islamic incursions and the subsequent, protracted Muslim rule had battered the body, the soul of Bharata had more or less remained intact—Hindus never rested, never stopped resisting.