How an individual understands their national identity has been shown to predict a range of critical outcomes, from their policy preferences to their voting behaviour and even their likelihood of engaging in hate speech. How malleable are public conceptions of national identity, and how do they evolve across time and space? We investigate these questions in India, where an elite consensus based around a secular understanding of national identity has -- as in many other regions around the world -- more recently given way to a dominant ethno-cultural one. First, we document a substantial rise over the previous few decades in ethnic conceptions of the nation. Second, in original surveys and a conjoint experiment, we explore the relative importance of different characteristics in defining national identity. Third, we conduct a survey experiment to explore the role of elite-led symbolic politics -- the use of "Bharat" versus "India" in speech -- in shifting conceptions of national identity. Throughout, we explore heterogeneity in perceptions not only across time, but also social groups and geographies. Our findings underline the existence of multiple, competing conceptions of national identity, demonstrate how they can differ across time and individuals, and highlight the important role of elites in shifting individuals’ perceptions.