Whenever Indians speak of the nation, the words 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rise almost instinctively. The idea of Bharat Mata, Mother India, has whizzed through centuries, moulding how people envisage the land, the soil, and the identity that flows from it. What often goes unnoticed, however, is that thousands of kilometres away, in Moscow’s Ekaterina (Catherine) Hall, Russia carries an almost parallel imagination of its homeland.

During President Vladimir Putin’s recent conversation with the India Today Group, a sculpture of Mother Russia was placed just behind him, echoing a sentiment that Indians know well.

For India and Russia, two civilisations separated by geography but bound by history, the figure of the motherland is not abstract poetry.

It is an emotional anchor. It is pride, protect

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