Vande Mataram is the national song of India, distinct from the national anthem of India "Jana Gana Mana". The song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in a mixture of Bengali and Sanskrit and can be translated into english as 'Mother, I bow to thee!'
"Vande Mataram" was the national cry for freedom from British oppression during the Indian freedom movement. Large rallies, fermenting initially in Bengal, in the city of Calcutta, would work themselves up into a patriotic fervour by shouting the slogan Vande Mataram, or "Hail to the Mother(land)!". The British, fearful of the potential danger of an incited Indian populace, at one point banned the utterance of the motto in public forums, and imprisoned many freedom fighters for disobeying the proscription. Rabindranath Tagore sang Vande Mataram in 1896 at the Calcutta Congress Session held at Beadon Square.
"Vande Mataram" was the national cry for freedom from British oppression during the Indian freedom movement. Large rallies, fermenting initially in Bengal, in the city of Calcutta, would work themselves up into a patriotic fervour by shouting the slogan Vande Mataram, or "Hail to the Mother(land)!". The British, fearful of the potential danger of an incited Indian populace, at one point banned the utterance of the motto in public forums, and imprisoned many freedom fighters for disobeying the proscription. Rabindranath Tagore sang Vande Mataram in 1896 at the Calcutta Congress Session held at Beadon Square.
The first two stanzas of the original transcript of the song is:
Vande mataram
sujalam suphalam malayaja shitalam
sasyashyamalam mataram ||
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim
pulakusumita drumadala shobhinim
suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim
sukhadam varadam mataram ||
This is the english translation by Shree Aurobindo:
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy 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.
You can listen or download this collection of some of the beautiful renditions of this hymn by different artists till now.
Official version
[MP3 1.06 MB 00:01:09 128kbps]
Instrumental Version
[MP3 1.69 MB 00:01:50 128kbps]
Anand Math Film in 1952
[MP3 1.26 MB 00:02:46 64kbps]
AR Rahman
[MP3 5.69 MB 320kbps]
The fact that Vande Mataram is still popular today can be attested from the fact that people from 155 countries/islands voted for Vande Mataram as second in top 10 songs in an international poll by BBC World Service in 2003 to choose ten most famous songs of all time.
The Vande Mataram is a song that extolls the virtues of idealism and sacrifice and glorifies the love of our motherland as greater than anything else.
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