Culture as the basis of Swami Vivekananda’s nationalism

Abstract

 Swami Vivekananda’s spirit of nationalism reached the zenith of excellence after his heroic return from the west. It assumed the shape of wild fire and influenced the mass as magic spell. He gave a clarion call to the nation which had been debased to political serfdom and economic stagnation that suddenly realized that it had not to bend its head down in shame, inferiority and defeatism but that it could hold up its head in legitimate pride and absolute confidence. He kindled a new zeal and fervour for struggle for freedom in every corner of india. According to Vivekananda, Indian nationalism is divine in inspiration and spirit although he talked of Hindu nationalism. In highlighting the divine aspect of our national life he said ... “there is not one race on this earth to which the world owes so much as to the patient Hindu, the mild Hindu. The sublimity of Indian culture is as old as that of Indian religion. Indian culture has been one of the great civilizing and humanizing factors evolved by man. The present paper would give a deeper insight on culture as the basis of nationalism of Swami Vivekananda.