At the heart of the crisis in contemporary India is the disputed idea of the nation, presented on the one hand in an almost unrecognizable, mythic form to the popular imagination, while on the other it is subjected to political and intellectual questioning that puts its very existence in doubt. The dispute, moreover, is not simply a matter of ideological difference, since it has real consequences in social and political action, the exercise of power at all levels, state and sectarian violence, loss of livelihoods and freedoms, and shrinking space for debate. It is precisely at such times that the ‘spirits of the past’ (as Marx described them) are urgently consulted, and the exercise of memory becomes a way of engaging with the present and the future. This talk will look at some examples from contemporary film and visual art in India (using slides) in order to examine how representation copes with the critical and difficult aspects of the nation’s self-understanding, by refracting them through the lens of history, and placing them, I will suggest, under the sign of mourning.