Ahmedabad : The first picture of ‘Bharat Mata’ was made by Maganlal Sharma, a teacher from Ahmedabad, who made the first picture of Bharat Mata in the year 1306. The picture was named ‘Hind Devi’. This picture became a symbol of united India during the freedom struggle.
This picture of Bharat Mata made by teacher Maganlal Sharma in primary school was printed in Raja Ravi Varma’s Germany press. Thousands of photos of this photo were published under fold. In this picture the head crown of Bharat Mata i.e. Hind Mata is in Kashmir and the feet are touching Sri Lanka. The trident caught in the right hand is going from Sindh state to Afghanistan and the sari is waving to West Bengal. Hind Devi’s hair is waving from the Himalayan peaks from west to east.
During the freedom struggle, it was discussed from villages to palaces. It is said that the great poet Rabindranath Tagore composed the famous song ‘Ayi Bhuvanmano Mohini’ in the year 1930, influenced by the picture of Hind Devi. Arvind Ghosh had said about this picture that this picture of Hind Devi inspires in the freedom struggle. At the same time, Sant Swami Anand of Gujarat wrote in his book ‘Santona Anuj’ that this picture was made by Maganlal Sharma with the inspiration of revolutionary Kripa Shankar Pandit and Dr. Hariprasad Desai.
Maganlal gave the concept of Akhand Bharat for the first time through the picture of Hind Devi. However, earlier in the year 1873, a play titled ‘Bharat Mata’ was produced by Kiran Chandra Banerjee, but he had no picture.