Dr. Shivani Katara
Bharat’s national song, ‘Vande Mataram,’ completes 150 years of its composition this year. November 7, 2025, marks not just the anniversary of a song, but a celebration of the national consciousness that awakened a sleeping nation. This song transcends mere words—it is an emotion, a fusion of devotion and freedom, a lamp of hope kindled in enslaved India. ‘Vande Mataram’ is the immortal voice that moved beyond literature to become the very soul of Bharat, instilling faith in every heart that the motherland herself is the supreme deity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat address, said: “Vande Mataram… carries countless emotions and energies. It makes us feel the affection of Ma Bharati. It is a surge of feelings in our hearts—a mantra that binds 140 crore Bhartiya through the energy of unity.” He urged citizens to participate in the #VandeMataram150 campaign to make it a nationwide celebration.
‘Vande Mataram’ derives from two Sanskrit words. The word ‘Vande’ comes from the Sanskrit root ‘vand’, meaning to praise or to bow with reverence. It appears in the Rigveda (Mandala 10, Sukta 151, Mantra 4) — “Deva Vande Manushyāḥ” — meaning “humans worship the gods.” Here, “Vande” signifies reverence and devotion, while “Mataram” means mother, referring to the Motherland, India. Thus, “Vande Mataram” translates to “O Mother, I bow to thee.” It is not merely a grammatical construct but a deeply emotional invocation.
In the 1870s, the great Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed ‘Vande Mataram’ and later included it in his celebrated novel ‘Anandamath’ (1882), set against the backdrop of the Sannyasi Rebellion, which rose against the Nawabi and British rule in the 18th century. Bankim Chandra envisioned Bharat as divine mother—“Sujalam Sufalam”—a land blessed with rivers and rich harvests. During that era, the British attempted to impose ‘God Save Our Queen’ as the anthem of British India, but Bhartwasi fiercely resisted it. In the search for self-respect and national identity, ‘Vande Mataram’ emerged as the symbol of Bhartiya pride.
The first tune for the song was composed by Jadunath Bhattacharya, based on the Bhartiya classical Raga Desh. Later, Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, founder of the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, gave it a more modern melodic form. In 1896, Rabindranath Tagore sang Vande Mataram at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress (Beadon Square), where it became a symbol of national awakening. Tamil poet Subramania Bharati rendered it in Tamil, while Pantulu translated it into Telugu. In 1901, Dakhina Charan Sen performed it to a piano tune, and in 1905, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani’s rendition immortalized it as the voice of Bharat’s freedom-loving soul.
Lala Lajpat Rai launched a journal titled ‘Vande Mataram’ from Lahore, which became a medium for nationalist ideas. Around the same time, pioneering filmmaker Hiralal Sen made Bharat’s first political film in 1905, which ended with the chant “Vande Mataram.” During the Partition of Bengal, the song echoed across streets, rallies, and prisons as a call to resistance. On April 14, 1906, at the Barisal Congress session, when an effigy of Lord Curzon was burned, the skies resounded with cries of “Vande Mataram.” Even in courtrooms, revolutionaries raised this cry before British judges. The British declared it seditious, but it had already become the soul of the nation. The last words of martyrs Khudiram Bose and Matangini Hazra were “Vande Mataram!”
In 1906, artist Abanindranath Tagore painted “Bharat Mata”—a four-armed goddess holding a book, mala, cloth, and rice—symbols of knowledge, devotion, clothing, and food. Sister Nivedita called it “the spirit of the Motherland made visible.” That painting and ‘Vande Mataram’ together became the visual and aural embodiment of the same sentiment—the awakening song of Ma Bharati that broke the nation’s slumber.
In 1907, Bhikaiji Cama unveiled Bharat’s first tricolour flag in Stuttgart, Germany, with “Vande Mataram” inscribed across its middle band. It was the first time Bharat’s flag was unfurled on an international platform. Sri Aurobindo translated the song into English under the title “Mother, I Bow to Thee,” published in his weekly Karmayogin on November 20, 1909. The earliest known audio recording of the song dates to 1907. In the 1952 film ‘Anandamath,’ music director Hemant Kumar reinterpreted it, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and K.S. Chithra, while Pandit Ravi Shankar composed the AIR orchestral version. In 2002, the BBC World Service ranked ‘Vande Mataram’ second among the world’s ten greatest songs—an enduring testament to Bharat’s cultural pride.
As swiftly as its popularity rose, opposition also grew. In 1937, a Congress committee comprising Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and a few prominent leaders decided that only the first two stanzas would be adopted as the national song. However, Muhammad Ali Jinnah strongly objected, describing it in the Quaid-e-Azam Papers (1938) as “idolatrous” and “unacceptable to Muslims,” since it depicted Bharat as a goddess. Despite this, the committee upheld its adoption in part to preserve communal harmony.
On January 24, 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad announced in the Constituent Assembly: “Vande Mataram, which played a historic role in the freedom struggle, shall have equal honor with Jana Gana Mana.” Its relevance did not merely continue after independence—it deepened further. Arif Mohammad Khan translated the song into Urdu to make its spirit accessible to all. In 2019, a petition before the Delhi High Court sought to grant Vande Mataram the same legal status as Jana Gana Mana. The Union Government (2022) reiterated that both songs deserve equal reverence, declaring that every citizen must honor them equally as emblems of unity and pride. Earlier, in 2017, the Madras High Court directed that Vande Mataram be sung weekly in Tamil Nadu’s schools and monthly in government offices. The Supreme Court (2016) also observed: “Respect for the National Song and the National Anthem must not be mechanical; it must stem from an inner devotion to the nation.”
The national song ‘Vande Mataram’ is so deeply woven into Bharat’s collective soul that its echoes resound in every movement and every struggle. It is not a page from history, but the living pulse of India—a voice that turned resistance into unity and emotion into awakening. Today, as Bharat’s youth in the digital age crafts new identities, this song reconnects them with their roots. It reminds them that words too can ignite revolutions—and that revolution is “Vande Mataram.” It is the eternal voice of Bhartiya spirit — Sukhadam, Varadam, Mataram (O Mother, giver of happiness and blessings, we bow to you!)
(The author holds a Ph.D. from the Delhi School of Economics and is active in social work)