The first two verses of Vande Mataram adopted as the "National Song" read as follows:
| Bengali script[31] | Bengali phonemic transcription | Devanagari script | IAST transliteration[17][32] |
|---|---|---|---|
বন্দে মাতরম্৷ | Bônde mātôrôm | वन्दे मातरम्। | vande mātaram |
Vande Maataram (Sanskrit: वन्दे मातरम् IAST: Vande Mātaram, also pronounced Bande Maataram; বন্দে মাতরম্, Bônde Mātôrôm transl. Mother, I bow to thee) is a poem written in Bengali[1] by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1870s, which he included in his 1882 Bengali novel Anandamath.[2][3] The poem was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore in the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.[4][5] The first two verses of the song were adopted as the National Song of India in October 1937 by the Congress Working Committee prior to the end of colonial rule in August 1947.[6][7][8]
An ode to the Motherland, it was written in Bengali script in the novel Anandmath.[9] The title 'Vande Mataram' means "I praise to motherland, Mother".[5][10] The "mother goddess" in later verses of the song has been interpreted as the motherland of the people –– Banga Mata (Mother Bengal)[11][12][13][14] and Bharat Mata (Mother India),[15][16] though the text does not mention this explicitly.
It played a vital role in the Indian independence movement, first sung in a political context by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.[17] It became a popular marching song for political activism and Indian freedom movement in 1905.[5] Spiritual Indian nationalist and philosopher Sri Aurobindo referred it as "National Anthem of Bengal".[18] The song and the novel containing it was banned by the colonial government, but workers and the general public defied the ban (with many being imprisoned repeatedly for singing it in public); with the ban being overturned by the Indian government after the country gained independence from colonial rule in 1947.[19][20]
On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India has adopted "Vande Mataram" as national song. On the occasion, the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad stated that the song should be honoured equally with the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana".[21] However the Constitution of India does not have any mention of "national song".[22][23]
The first two verses of the song are an abstract reference to mother and motherland, they do not mention any Hindu deity by name, unlike later verses that do mention goddesses such as Durga.[24][25] There are 65 seconds of circumstantial specification for the rendition of this song unlike the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" that specifies 52 seconds.[26]
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