63 / 822
Eternal India
encyclopedia
NATIONAL SYMBOLS
Rashtra Geeth
NATIONAL SONG
The song “
Vande Mataram
” was presented by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel
Anandamath
(1884). The-story of the novel
is about a group of young men dedicated to the cause of the liberation of their motherland from the tyranny of foreign rule. They call
themselves
Santaans
(Children) of the Motherland, The
Santhaans
are members of a secret organisation which has its headquarters in
the
Anandamath
(the Abbey of Bliss) hidden in the heart of a forest. Their leader is Satyananda, a spirited and patriotic
Sanyaasi.
Although the novel derives some of its background material from the
Sanyaasi
rebellion of Bengal in 1773 it is not a historical novel. The
novel presents a vivid and realistic description of the great famine of Bengal in the late 18th century and analysis the causes and
conditions which led to the armed revolt of the
Santaans.
The first political occasion when Vande Mataram was sung was the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. The partition of
Bengal in 1905 marked the beginning of a national awakening. All the public meetings that were held in Bengal to protest against the
partition started with the singing of Vande Mataram. Soon the British authorities passed orders that Vande Mataram should not be
shouted on the streets or in public places. But to no avail. The song became the song of the freedom movement generating a national fer-
vour that could be compared with that created by the Marseillaise. The first two words of the song Vande Mataram were accepted as the
symbol of the national movement.
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with they winds of delight
Dark fields waving, Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams
Over thy branches and lordly streams,-
Clad in they blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease,
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother, I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,
When the swords flash out in seventy mil-
lion hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and
stored,
To thee, I call, Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foemen drave
Back from plain and sea
And shook herself free.
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou our heart, our soul, our breath,
Thou the love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerver the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.
Thou art Durga, lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords
of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned.
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother, lend thine ear.
Rich with thy hurrying streams
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Dark of hue, O candid — fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And the glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, Mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee
Mother great and free!
—Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
(English rendering by Sri Aurobindo)
_
-
.
_
-x
The song
Vande Mataram
, composed by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of in-
spiration to the people in their struggle for freedom. It has an equal status with
Jana-gana-
mana.
The first political occasion when it was sung was the 1896 session of
the Indian National Congress.
_________________________ ________ _______________________ :
J