Bharat Ek Khoj, was a televised series based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s book The Discovery of India. The 53-episode-series was directed by Shyam Benegal, and Roshan Seth played Nehru's role.

The clip above, is a snippet from the first episode of the series. It shows Nehru quizzing some zealous chanters of “Bharat Mata ki jai” on “who is Bharat Mata?”, whose victory they were hailing.

Below is an excerpt from what Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India on the subject:

Sometimes as I reached a gathering, a great roar of welcome

would greet me: Bharat Mata ki 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 dharti, 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 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, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru