by “Avarachan Thomas” (pseudonym).
August 15th is the Republic of India’s Independence Day.
To celebrate the occasion, India’s national song and national anthem are performed throughout the country. In particular, the story behind the national song, “Vande Mataram,” reveals India’s approach towards multiculturalism and national unity.
“Vande Mataram” literally means, “I bow to thee, Mother.” The poem from which the song is derived consists of six stanzas, some of which explicitly equate Mother India with the Hindu goddess, Durga. During the independence struggle, many Muslims objected to the song because they considered the worship of Mother India to be idolatry and thus prohibited.
Because of this, in 1937, Indian politicians decided to adopt only the first two stanzas—which lack any specific religious content–as the national song. While it is true that the word “vande” can have a spiritual connotation (“bow” in the sense of worship), it can also mean “bow” in the sense of a respectful salutation. It should be noted that the patriotic slogan, “Vande Mataram,” grew in popularity partly as a reaction to the British colonial attempt to popularize “God Save the Queen.” Thus, the quibbling over the inherently ambiguous nature of “vande” misses the point: the reason Indian patriots were willing to risk imprisonment for chanting “Vande Mataram” was because it was a statement of devotion to the Indian motherland rather than the British monarch.
Nonetheless, many Indian leaders—including Hindus such as Gandhi, the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and the general Subhas Chandra Bose–felt uncomfortable with the song as a unifier, due to its origin. Accordingly, in 1950, during the Indian Constituent Assembly, “Vande Mataram” was not chosen as the national anthem. It instead was given the somewhat uncertain legal standing of national “song” as a compromise.
During the controversy, Gandhi wrote in his magazine that “Vande Mataram” would “never suffer disuse” as it was “enthroned in the hearts of millions.” Given that the song remains hugely popular throughout India, it seems that Gandhi was correct.
This version uses the original six-stanza poem:
This is a 2014 rendition which simply uses “vande mataram” as a refrain:
Happy Independence Day, Bharat! Thank you for sharing these beautiful videos. Gets me a bit sentimental because I attended Hindu temples in our area for many years (long story). Left me with the feeling that as long as India remains strong, there is hope for the world, no matter what.
Vande Mataram and all of Bengali literature were influenced by the British. If British did not come, Indian Hindus would still be burning wives in pyre.
Also, let us stop dreaming about unified India. The country is heading to complete breakdown and civil war.
Interestingly the forefathers of current Bakistanis started burning their wimmens when the islamic barbarians attacked for ‘Jar (Gold), Joru (Wimmen) and Jameen (Land)’.
The islamic barbarians were shell shocked, that an advanced civilization was flourishing with all the land and wimmens and arrah had given them only deserts and 72 dates! And then they went on a killing spree.
Now the same piglets are coming back and ridiculing honorable wimmen who chose to go the way of sacrifice instead of being treated as goats.
waow! a paki whose home folks kill shiah, ahmediyas, or anyone else with glee and free of punishment calling India breaking up Irony drowned in Indus.
Firstly, the maximum amount of Satis occurred due to Islamic invaders raping Hindu women. Secondly, irrespective of whether British colonial rule, since eternity Bharat has been a cultural nation.
Regarding the influence of British on Bengali/Hindu literature is not surprising, given the brutal colonial rule. But the influence was more in terms of opposition to the inhuman atrocities. Bharat is much more than real estate, it has survived through worse periods. The civilizational memory is stronger than it has been in a while. So you can stop dreaming about India breaking up. Pakistan a so-called country has already broken once in a short span of 2 decades. The next break up is not too far either. Pakistan state has any future only if it starts treating humans as humans and not as cannon fodder.
Did any one notice the large number of Pakistanis sent from Turkey to Europe posing as Syrian refugees? Hong Kong has a very large Pakistani “refugee” population competing very successfully against the local Triads and in partnership with them too.
Sati is a Hindu custom written into your holy books. The wife of one of the most revered God Rama ie Sita was called Maa Sati.
Vandemataram is part of a racist and fascist book full of anti Muslim bigotry to cull a part of such a book and call it a national unifier is the height of stupidity. We have not even got started on the idolatrous iconography of the poem which is totally opposed by Muslims.
This song of national unity should be sung especially while using pellet guns to maim and blind hundreds of Kashmiri kids and youth.
And it should be sung when raping and killing the indigenous people “the Adivasi” in order to deprive them of their land in eastern states like Orissa
And it should be sung when depriving and discriminating against the lower caste hindus and other non Brahmins
And it should be sung to celebrate the economic growth of India where the overwhelming majority still lives on less than a dollar a day
Same is true about Russia – We have nukes, smart tech-support professionals with good English (which is learnt because it’s an international language, NOT because of any fetish for British Empire), at the same time, we have economic inequality and it’s not impossible to let one’s relatives inherit money, which means in Russia we have a quasi-caste system.
Not saying EU and USA are not based on economic inequality and inheritance as well. But still.
Vande Mataram is a song that venerates the nation as a Mother. This epitomization of the nation as a maternal figure is something Indian culture shares with the Russian, and derives from a connection to the land as deeply spiritual as it is fundamentally physical.
Above me I notice two Pakistanis have taken the opportunity to regurgitate falsehoods about India and her society. I suppose this is only the natural response to a nation full of people who do not know who their father is.
Yep, this getting along with each other and respecting differences in culture is going to be hard work in the multipolar world which is evolving . . I can see.
India and Pakistan have so much to gain by facing the real enemy of their countries, the one which brings it’s war of terror into their shared continent.
Dear Wendy
Don’t you realize the Indian money lenders (“Banya” in local parlance) are one with their western masters. You should see how they venerate their western masters with round eyes. This “Banya” is like a dingo who eats its prey while still alive. Only the “Banya” eats it very own being a born coward which sets him apart from a dingo.
Is not a Dingo a creation of God ?
when brothers fight they figth bitterly.Hopefully both sides will realise one day their utter follyand see that cooperation between them would bring them forward by bounds and leaps. The british set up both sides against each other and the christians created the divide between South and North. Since parttion all hindu Muslim clashes have been set up by politics. otherwise people live peasefully
bernie