Nehru clarifies who is "Bharat Mata" or "Mother India"

[Truth Finder]

'Bharat Mata' ​

"Often, as I wandered from meeting to meeting, I spoke to my
audience of this India of ours, of Hindustan and of Bharata, the
old Sanskrit name derived from the mythical founder of the race.
I seldom did so in the cities, for there the audiences were more
sophisticated and wanted stronger fare. But to the peasant, with
his limited outlook, I spoke of this great country for whose free-
dom we were struggling, of how each part differed from the other
and yet was India, of common problems of the peasants from
north to south and east to west, of the Swaraj that could only be
for all and every part and not for some. I told them of my journey-
ing from the Khyber Pass in the far north-west to Kanya Kumari
or Cape Comorin in the distant south, and how everywhere the
peasants put me identical questions, for their troubles were the
same — poverty, debt, vested interests, landlords, moneylenders,
heavy rents and taxes, police harassment, and all these wrapped
up in the structure that the foreign government had imposed upon
us — and relief must also come for all. I tried to make them think
of India as a whole, and even to some little extent of this wide
world of which we were a part. I brought in the struggle in China,
in Spain, in Abyssinia, in Central Europe, in Egypt and the
countries of Western Asia. I told them of the wonderful changes
in the Soviet Union and of the great progress made in America.
The task was not easy; yet it was not so difficult as I had imagined,
for our ancient epics and myths and legends, which they knew so
well, had made them familiar with the conception of their country,
and some there were always who had travelled far and wide to
the great places of pilgrimage situated at the four corners of
India. Or there were old soldiers who had served in foreign parts
in World War I or other expeditions. Even my references to foreign
countries were brought home to them by the consequences of
the great depression of the 'thirties.

Sometimes as I reached a gathering, a great roar of welcome
would greet me: Bharat Mata kt Jai — 'Victory to Mother India.'
I would ask them unexpectedly what they meant by that cry,
who was this Bharat Mata, Mother India, whose victory they
wanted? My question would amuse them and surprise them, and
then, not knowing exactly what to answer, they would look at
each other and at me. I persisted in my questioning. At last a
vigorous Jat, wedded to the soil from immemorial generations,
would say that it was the dharli, the good earth of India, that
they meant. What earth? Their particular village patch, or all
the patches in the district or province, or in the whole of India?
And so question and answer went on, till they would ask me
impatiently to tell them all about it. I would endeavour to do
so and explain that India was all this that they had thought,
but it was much more. The mountains and the rivers of India,
and the forests and the broad fields, which gave us food, were
all dear to us, but what counted ultimately were the people of
India, people like them and me, who were spread out all over
this vast land. Bharat Mata, Mother India, was essentially these
millions of people, and victory to her meant victory to these
people. You are parts of this Bharat Mata, I told them, you are
in a manner yourselves Bharat Mata, and as this idea slowly
soaked into their brains, their eyes would light up as if they
had made a great discovery."

(The Discovery of India, Chapter- The Quest, Pages-52-54, Penguin Books)

 

[HRK]

'Bharat Mata' ​

Sometimes as I reached a gathering, a great roar of welcome
would greet me: Bharat Mata kt Jai — 'Victory to Mother India.'
I would ask them unexpectedly what they meant by that cry,
who was this Bharat Mata, Mother India, whose victory they
wanted?

My question would amuse them and surprise them, and
then, not knowing exactly what to answer, they would look at
each other and at me.

Actually it was a premature question, asked decade before its due time now not only Indian but anyone can answer it
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with respect & Love from Pakistan .....