Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Episode:1. Bharat Mata Ki Jai


Episode:1. Bharat Mata Ki Jai
The Discovery of India, Bharat ek Khoj (भारत एक खोज)بھارت ایک کھوج
Director: Shyam Benegal
Based on the book by: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 1 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - 1of4


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 1 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - 2of4



Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 1 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - 3of4



Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 1 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - 4of4


Description of Episode 1, Written by Sumandra Singh

It is a bunch of simple minded villagers whom Nehru is addressing during the time he is on an explorative trip of India like Gandhi. It is the year 1936-37 about which Nehru is talking about. He asks and explains the meaning of nation to the people. It’s not only the land, rivers and resources that constitute the nation but the most integral element are the people of the nation. I see a clear resemblance in the ideas of Nehru and Mathew Arnold (Arnold’s paper titles ‘Imagined Communities’ is a perfect reading stuff for those who have misconceptions about the existence of nation and nationalism). Nehru’s journey is an attempt to understand the essence of the nation. He wants to know what is that makes India ‘India’.
It’s the culture and the people that make the country and bring glory to it.
To introduce us to the culture, Nehru steps back in the history and takes us to the Indus Valley Civilization and recounts the dynamic cultural heritage we are proud of being the predecessors of. He is clearly a winner in making a point about India being a dynamic country where there is life in every aspect of it and how the British Domination has brought a halt to its vehicle of progress. The writing of the book is in synchronization with the time when the nation is waking from a century old slumber and urges for its freedom.
It’s a universally accepted fact that Indian good were in demand in the international market and we had economical and cultural exchanges from Iran, Egypt, Greece, Arabia, Central Asia and almost every corner of the world. We received from these countries, a cultural enhancement and at the same time we added elements to their culture. The evidence of cultural resemblances have been found world over. In-spite of such a complex intermixing of cultural elements India has obtained the credit of maintaining its distinct culture.
Some part of the episode, I may say is devoted to putting to words the geographic beauty of this vast nation and to show the geographical vivacity that India has and the variety that it has from one place to another
Nehru recounts his experiences of being in the company of The Himalaya’s which has been a constant source of inspiration for our epics, folklores, literature and thoughts. He goes on to describe the scenic and mesmerizing beauty of The Himalaya’s and with that he descends to the fields of India with the rivers that originate in The Himalaya.
He informs with supreme authority that it is the river Indus form where India obtains its name. Brahmaputra a river which flows with history too has been remembered along with Yamuna which has been the witness of the raslila’s of Krishna (according to the epics). I feel we may fall short of words in describing the glory of The Ganga, a river which has its presence felt in every fold of live, let it be historical, contemporary, modern, ancient, life and death. Ganga influences ever aspect of human life. Ganga has seen the changing times and has been witness of great many events that have shaped the Indian history and at the same time it has given its sincere contribution in development of cities and civilizations on its shores.
Nehru declares his journeys as practical as they take him closer to the nation’s soul and ignited his critical understanding for the better realization of the history and culture and their interwoven role in shaping the nation.
The diversity in different schools of architecture has been shown in this part. From Buddhist Stupa’s to the high rising Gopuram’s of South Indian temples, this part has summed or wrapped the architectural diversity of India very efficiently.
The journey now takes a different root and now Nehru seeks to understand the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual history of this nation.
Sar Nath, a place near Banaras where Gautham Buddha delivered one of his sermon, has still his voice echoing for the civilization to listen to him and identify the real enemy of human i.e. greed. Buddha has preached that if we wish to get out of this vicious circle of suffering then we must control our greed because greed breeds all the evils in human.
The next historical figure whom Nehru brings on the stage in this very context is no one but the greatest of all kings, Ashoka. The pillars containing the inscriptions by Ashoka throw a substantial amount of light on the principles of that great ruler and his philosophy of equality and tolerance. His love for fellow human being makes him the greatest of all rulers.
Another historical figure that Nehru Talks about is Akbar, who on his quest of knowledge has tried to understand the basic philosophies of all the religions that exist. His quest to understand god had bestowed certain qualities that people rarely possess. Akbar tries to understand the Multi-facet India and comes across a nation that is unique.
Thanks for watching

13 comments:

Amit Bothe said...

Hi,

Can I buy these videos? Do let me know as I have been searching for these videos for many years.

You can mail me on botheamit@gmail.com

-Amit

pixelkeeda said...

The 4th Part is down now..
Thanks a ton for this grand effort.. !
I can't thank u enough for this..

Vivek Chola said...

Thank you so much!!!!!! I really appreciate your effort for posting these videos.

Vivek.

rat_race said...

this is truly a great contribution from you...

can i get this on CD somewhere ? internet speeds being what they are in india , its a little difficult to watch online

thanks once again

ajay
ajayjo@gmail.com

AJAYKUMAR SAROYA said...

this is a good work 4 our culture.

Unknown said...

I can't thank you enough for enabling me to see this outstanding serial after a gap of 20 years. It's like living our history again. I feel every child must see this serial before actually studying history books.

Sandeep Saxena
New Delhi

Unknown said...

Fantastic!
A truely wonderful effort to keep this excellent work on our history alive. I wish Doordarshan would make this available in DVD format for the new generations.
Thanks a ton. I have searched for the whole collection for years. This one and Malgudi Days.
God bless you!
Rahul

Sugandh said...

hey
great job man
cant tell you how happy i am to see all the episodes online
have been looking for them for months ..........

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!

would be great if you share them as torrent as well. Its good to have Hi-res vids instead of lo-res flash vid from you-tube ;-)

Thanks once again....

Jai Hind !!

Unknown said...

Great news for the series lover,..I have recently spoken to Planet M and they have suggested that by next month the entire series will be available on dvd and would cost around 6K...

I am loving it :)

Rgds
Raj

nigel martin said...

hey i have the complete collections - orignial dvdrip episodes available of BEK. cont me. 9663955111, These are not youtube or blog rips but original.

Human Being said...

So many private channels we have now but not worth a program like this which was produced by Doordharsan.

Vishal said...

Great Work...really amazing..
Thanks a lot...!!!!

vasudha said...

Nice post. I just bought the DVDs, and had a question about the first episode. Do you know which south Indian temple complex that is in the architectural montage, the one with 4 gopurams with the nested ones?