FOR one-hundred-and-fifty years after Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote it in his famous novel ‘Anand Math’ highlighting revolutionary cause, the song ‘Vande Mataram ...’ has become a national anthem that inspired countless lakhs of Indian people to stand and get counted in the struggle for Independence. And the two words -- ‘Vande Mataram’ -- assumed the status of a Mantra of patriotism that threatened to shake the British throne to the core. In India’s struggle for freedom, ‘Vande Mataram, thus played a critical role in keeping the people’s morale up against a tyrannical rule that sought to sap the nation’s energy and resources and leave it impoverished. ‘Vande Mataram’ became a rallying call for the people fighting to throw off the alien yoke. And, for the subsequent 150 years, the power of this Mantra has remained unaltered; and the melodic beauty of the national anthem has kept mesmerising people beyond description.

 

That the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intends to celebrate 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’ at 150 places, may have an incidental value for the larger society, but the importance of ‘Vande Mataram’ needs to be recognised in India’s collective spirituality. There may be some who raise senseless issues against the song citing so-called (and inexplicable) religious susceptibilities, but no one -- even the opponents -- can deny the impact the song has had on the average Indian mind. ‘Vande Mataram’, for every Indian, has remained a clarion call for patriotism, for the love the Motherland, the ‘sujalaam sufalaam’ ‘Bharat Mata’. How many lakhs of people got arrested for singing ‘Vande Mataram’ during the British rule is not know exactly to any one. How many people faced Police lathis and bullets is also not properly recorded (possibly purposefully by the then British administration).

 

How many people were hanged to death for singing ‘Vande Mataram’ is also not accurately known. And how many patriots kept singing ‘Vande Mataram ...’ even on the death knell with the noose around their necks, too, has not been recorded by then then British jail authorities. Yet all those stories light up our minds when ever we think of ‘Vande Mataram’. Our shoulders are drawn back, our eyes widen, and our chests swell in pride even with the thought of ‘Vande Mataram’. That is the beauty of the anthem, that is the mesmeric attraction the song has created about itself. So many people sing this song in so many different ways. But each time the song is being sung, countless eyes get misty with tears, so many lips quiver with intense emotion, so many throats get choked ... ! -- even today. Even today, India’s soldiers give ‘Vande Mataram’ shouts during war -- and during peace. In so many countless schools, this anthem is sung on a daily basis, no matter in what manner. But every time the words of ‘Vande Mataram ...’ are sung and heard, emotions well up in every heart. Such perfect songs are rarely written -- complete with fine musical value, intense emotional quotient, and high spiritual suggestion.

 

‘Vande Mataram’ is one of those perfect songs -- emerging from some unstated divine source. That was the reason why generations of Indian people have stood mesmerised by that song, have remained loyal to its emotion, have committed themselves to serving the Motherland through thick and thin. As the nation celebrates the 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’, systematic efforts need to be made to introduce every Indian child to the song in its entirety and history and the effect it has had on India’s freedom struggle after the novel ‘Anand Math’ got published those many years ago. The children of India certainly sing ‘Vande Mataram’ in schools, but that is not enough. The song’s history -- of how it became a national anthem -- must be narrated to our young generations so that they get an emotionally charged picture of the struggle the nation went through to throw the British out.