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The Portrait's Journey: The Image, Social Communication and Martyr-Making in Colonial India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2011

Kama Maclean
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Abstract

Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary nationalist executed by the British in 1931, continues to be an enormously popular figure in contemporary India, immediately recognizable in ubiquitous posters, stickers and placards by his distinctive hat. This article uncovers the story behind Bhagat Singh's original ‘hat photograph’ by tracing the portrait's journey from the time it was taken, in 1929, to the early 1930s. The portrait was devised as a tactic of political subversion and intended as revolutionary propaganda, although it became more widely interpreted as an icon of defiant nationalism and a symbol of imperial injustice. The image quickly morphed from its original format, and rapidly circulated in the form of reproductions, paintings and drawings, travelling well beyond the confines of the literate domain, making a decisive impact on the charged political landscape of the early 1930s.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 70 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 1051 - 1082
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2011

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