Vande Mataram
Hemanta Mukherjee (film version) | |
| Adopted | 24 January 1950 |
|---|---|
| Audio sample | |
Vande Mataram played on the Mohan veena by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in 2017 | |
Vande Mataram (Vande Mātaram, also spelt Bande Mataram; Bônde Mātôrôm; transl. I praise you, Motherland) is a poem written in Sanskrit and Sanskritised Bengali[1][2] by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the 1870s.[3][4] The first two verses of the poem were adopted as the National Song of India in October 1937 by the Congress.[5][6][7]
The poem was first published in 1882 as part of Chatterjee's
Nonetheless, the poem played a vital role in the Indian independence movement. It first gained political significance when it was recited by Rabindranath Tagore at Congress in 1896.[14][15][16] By 1905, it had become a popular amongst political activists and freedom fighters as a marching song.[16] The song, as well as Anandmath, were banned under British colonial rule under threat of imprisonment, making its use revolutionary. The ban was ultimately overturned by the Indian government upon independence in 1947.[17][18]
On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Vande Mataram as the Republic's national song. President of India Rajendra Prasad stated that the song should be honoured equally with the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana.[19] While the Constitution of India does not make reference to a "national song",[20][21] the Government filed an affidavit at the Delhi High Court in November 2022 stating that Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram would “stand on the same level”, and that citizens should show equal respect to both.[22]
The first two verses of the song make abstract reference to the "mother" and "motherland", without any religious connotation. However, later verses mention
Unlike the national anthem, there are no rules or decorum to be observed when reciting Vande Mataram.[25]
Etymology
The root of the Sanskrit word Vande is Vand, which appears in Rigveda and other Vedic texts.[26][note 1] According to Monier Monier-Williams, depending on the context, vand means "to praise, celebrate, laud, extol, to show honour, do homage, salute respectfully", or "deferentially, venerate, worship, adore", or "to offer anything respectfully to".[26][27] The word Mātaram has Indo-European roots in mātár- (Sanskrit), méter (Greek), mâter (Latin) which mean "mother".[28][29]
Lyrics of the song
The first two verses of Vande Mataram adopted as the "National Song" read as follows:
| Bengali script[30] | Bengali phonemic transcription
|
Devanagari script | IAST transliteration[14][31] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
বন্দে মাতরম্৷ |
Bônde mātôrôm |
वन्दे मातरम्। |
|
vande mātaram |
Lyrics
The complete original lyrics of the Vande Mataram are available at – via Wikisource.
| বন্দে মাতরম্ (Bengali Script) | Latin transliteration (IAST) | वन्दे मातरम् (Devanagari transliteration) |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Translation
The first translation of
Here is the translation in
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with the winds of delight,
Dark fields waving, Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease,
Laughing low and sweet,
Mother, I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low,
Mother, to thee I bow. [Verse 1]
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,
When the swords flash out in seventy million hands,
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and strong,
To thee I call, Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foemen drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free. [Verse 2]
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Thou art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerves the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image divine.
In our temples is but thine. [Verse 3]
Thou art Goddess Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Goddess Kamala (Lakshmi), lotus-throned,
And Goddess Vani (Saraswati), bestower of wisdom known
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 [Verse 4]
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy 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! [Verse 5]
Apart from the above prose translation, Sri Aurobindo also translated Vande Mataram into a verse form known as Mother, I praise thee!.[34] Sri Aurobindo commented on his English translation of the poem that "It is difficult to translate the National Song of India into verse in another language owing to its unique union of sweetness, simple directness and high poetic force."[35]
Translation into other languages
Vande Mataram has inspired many Indian poets and has been translated into numerous Indian languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu and others.[36][note 2]
Arif Mohammad Khan translated Vande Mataram into Urdu.[38] It can be read in Urdu (Devanagari script) as:
| Devanagari script | Perso Arabic script (original orthography) |
|---|---|
तस्लीमात, माँ तस्लीमात |
تسلیمات، ماں تسلیمات |
History and significance
Composition
Chattopadhyay wrote the poem in a spontaneous session using words from Sanskrit and Bengali. The poem was published in Chattopadhyay's book Anandamath (pronounced Anondomôţh in Bengali) in 1882, which is set in the events of the Sannyasi Rebellion.[40][41] Jadunath Bhattacharya was asked to set a tune for this poem just after it was written.[41]
Indian independence movement
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"Vande Mataram" was one of the most popular songs of protest during the
In 1907,
A book titled Kranti Geetanjali published by Arya Printing Press (Lahore) and Bharatiya Press (Dehradun) in 1929 contains first two stanzas of this lyric on page 11[44] as Matra Vandana and a ghazal (Vande Mataram) composed by Bismil was also given on its back, i.e. page 12.[45] The book written by the famous martyr of Kakori Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil was proscribed by the colonial government.[citation needed]
Mahatama Gandhi supported adoption and the singing of the Vande Mataram song. In January 1946, in a speech in Guwahati (Assam), he urged that "Jai Hind should not replace Vande-mataram". He reminded everyone present that Vande-mataram was being sung since the inception of the Congress. He supported the "Jai Hind" greeting, but remanded that this greeting should not be to the exclusion of Vande Mataram. Gandhi was concerned that those who discarded Vande Mataram given the tradition of sacrifice behind it, one day would discard "Jai Hind" also.[46][note 3]
Debate on adoption as national song of India
Parts of the Vande Mataram was chosen as the national song in 1937 by the
...The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words as the Government may authorise as occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it. (Applause). I hope this will satisfy the Members.
- —Constituent Assembly of India, Vol. XII, 24-1-1950[50]
Performances and interpretations
The poem has been set to a large number of tunes. The oldest surviving audio recordings date to 1907, and there have been more than a hundred different versions recorded throughout the 20th century. Many of these versions have employed traditional
In July 2017, the Madras High Court ruled that the Vande Mataram shall be sung or played at least once a week in all schools, universities and other educational institutions of Tamil Nadu. The Court also ruled that the song should be played or sung in government offices and industrial facilities at least once a month.[54]
See also
- Anandmath— The novel from which "Vande Mataram" gained popularity
- "Jana Gana Mana"- The Indian national anthem
- "Subh Sukh Chain"
- Banga Mata
- Bharat Mata
- Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate
- Tamil Thai
- Telugu Thalli
- Telangana Thalli
- Bharat Mata Ki Jai
- Vande Mataram (album)
- National Pledge
- List of Indian state anthems
Notes
- ^ sometimes transcribed as ধর্ম
- ^ sometimes transcribed as মর্ম
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Vande"
- ^ Sanskrit
"varadāṃ" - ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Dvisaptakoṭībhujaidhṛtakharakaravāle"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Avalā"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "vale"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Vahuvaladhārinīṃ"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Ripudalavārinī"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "vidyā"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Tvaṃ"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Vāhute"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Tvaṃ"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Vānī"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "vidyādāẏinī"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "tvaṃ"
- ^ Sanskrit transliteration "Vande"
- ^ See, for example, Rigveda 1.27.1; Sanskrit: अश्वं न त्वा वारवन्तं वन्दध्या अग्निं नमोभिः । सम्राजन्तमध्वराणाम् ॥१॥ Wikisource
- ^ The Assamese version, re-translated into English, reads:[37]
"O my own land,
O my dear land,
O my dear land,
A land bedecked with gentle streams,
A land that adorned with heavenly beauty,
It is such a motherland." – Lakshminath Bezbarua, Translated into English by A Mazumdar - ^ This view of Gandhi was not isolated. In another interview, he said, "a song that carried such glorious associations of sacrifice as "Vandemataram" could never be given up. It would be like discarding one’s mother. But they could certainly add a new song or songs like the one mentioned to their repertoire of national songs after due thought and discrimination."[47]
References
- ^ https://knowindia.india.gov.in/national-identity-elements/national-song.php
- ^ "Vande Mataram". www.mustrad.org.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ "National Identity Elements - National Song - Know India: National Portal of India". knowindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ a b c The National Flag Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 76, 27 June 1939, pages 68–70 with footnote 1 on page 69
- ISBN 978-0-14-303055-3.
- ISBN 978-81-230-2269-7.
- ISBN 978-0-14-303055-3.
- ^ "Bankim's Vande Mataram originally referred to Banga Mata not Bharat Mata: Netaji's grand nephew in new book".
- ^ "The Mother in Bande Mataram is not Mother India". 8 April 2017.
- ^ "History revisited: 'Bande Mataram' was written as a song about Bengal – not India".
- ^ "Bharat Mata: From freedom struggle metaphor to patriotism's litmus test". 21 March 2016.
- ^ Sri Aurobindo commented on his English translation of the poem, "It is difficult to translate the National Anthem of Bengal into verse in another language owing to its unique union of sweetness, simple directness and high poetic force." Cited in Bhabatosh Chatterjee (ed.), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Essays in Perspective, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1994, p. 601.
- ^ a b c "National Song of India". Government of India. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
- ^ "National Song". knowindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-385-53190-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-803971-6.
- ISBN 978-81-8324-159-5.
- ^ "National Symbols | National Portal of India". Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ "HC dismisses plea to declare 'Vande Mataram' as national anthem or song". The Indian Express. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ^ "No concept of National Song in Constitution, says SC". Hindustan Times. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ^ "Jana Gana & Vande Mataram 'stand on same level': Govt in HC". Times of India. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-14-303055-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8223-9153-1.
- ^ "No rules on singing, playing of 'Bande Mataram': Government". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ a b Monier Monier-Williams, English Sanskrit Dictionary with Etymology Archived 28 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford University Press, page 919
- ISBN 978-0-19-534633-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-2714-1.
- ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
- ^ "Vande Mataram in Bengali script". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
- ^ "Vande Mataram in Romanized Sanskrit". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-19-534633-6.
- ISBN 978-81-8324-159-5.
- ^ "Sri Aurobindo's VERSE translation of Vande Mataram". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ Bhabatosh Chatterjee (ed.), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Essays in Perspective, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1994, p. 601.
- ISBN 978-81-8324-159-5.
- ISBN 978-81-8324-159-5.
- ^ "Unnecessary And Irrelevant". Outlook India. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ "केरल के गवर्नर बने आरिफ मोहम्मद खान, पढ़ें वंदे मातरम का उर्दू में उनका अनुवाद". Navbharat Times (in Hindi). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-517858-6.
- ^ a b c d e Suresh Chandvankar, Vande Mataram Archived 29 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine (2003) at Musical Traditions (mustrad.org.uk)
- ^ Chakrabarty, Bidyut (1997). Local Politics and Indian Nationalism: Midnapur (1919–1944). New Delhi: Manohar. p. 167.
- ^ "p2". Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ISBN 81-7783-128-3.
- ISBN 81-7783-128-3.
- ^ Speech at Prayer Meeting (Guwahati, Assam) Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 10 January 1946, page 212
- ^ Discussion with Political Workers Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 1945, page 89
- ^ a b A. G. Noorani (1973), Vande Mataram: A Historical Lesson Archived 21 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine, EPW, Vol. 8, No. 23 (9 Jun. 1973), pages 1039–1043
- ISBN 978-81-250-0828-6.
- ^ "Constituent Assembly of India Debates".
- ^ Pradeep Kumar Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Rediff.com.
- ^ The Worlds Top Ten Archived 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine — BBC World Service
- ^ "Des: Tunes from the Countryside". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ Madras High Court makes Vande Mataram mandatory in schools and colleges Archived 28 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, India Today (25 July 2017)
- Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Vande Mataram: The Biography of a Song, Penguin Books, 2003, ISBN 978-0-14-303055-3.
Further reading
- OCLC 228705970. Bande (with a B rather than a V) Mataram plays a great part in this novel about a Bengali family.
- "Vande Mataram : Biography of a Song" by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Publisher:Penguin, ISBN 9780143030553
External links
Vocals
- Vande Mataram Hemant Kumar & Lata Mangeshkar in Anand Math(1951).
- [1] Hemant Kumar from the film Anand Math(1951) Original Version.
- Vande Mataram, Lata Mangeshkar in Anand Math (4:57 minutes)
- Vande Mataram, Amruta Suresh and Abhirami Suresh (4:36 minutes)
- Vande Mataram, Group song (1:09 minutes)
Debate
- "National Song" section, Official Portal of the Indian Government
- How Secular is Vande Mataram?, AG Noorani, Frontline
- Boycott threat over Indian song, BBC
- 1937 Congress Resolution on validity of Muslim objection to this song, Outlook India
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