Vande Mataram the National song of India completes in 150 years .Its a rallying call for children of. Bharat Varsha .The Government of India is commemorating 150 years of this beautiful and powerful song

Vande Mataram was written by Sri Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in the 1870s and published as part of his novel Anandamath (1882). The poem (originally six stanzas) was widely used in the freedom movement; two stanzas were adopted as India’s National Song in 1950 .Bankim Chandra was a Nationalist and his Vande Mataram became a rallying cry for all Bharatiya ,fighting the oppressive British rule. His words evoked the image of Mother India that we all Indians have in our heart.

Summary of Meaning

Sri Bankim Chandra described not only Bharat Mata’s beauty but also her power .It starts with mother I submit my prayers to you bowing my head.He imagined her as powerful as Devi Maa Durga, soft spoken, giver of abundance, prosperity and wellbeing like Maa Lakshmi and bestowing knowledge and wisdom like Maa Saraswati. She is fierce with enemies and nurturing to her children. She is fearless in battle but full of love for all those who call her mother. Vande MAtaram is not just a song, its a prayer .

Vande Mataram — বন্দে মাতরম্‌ (Full Poem in Bengali)

By Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, from Anandamath (1882)

বন্দে মাতরম্‌।
সুজলাং সুফলাং মালয়জশীতলাং শস্যশ্যামলাং মাতরম্‌।
শুভ্র-জ্যোত্স্না-পুলকিত-যামিনীং ফুল্ল-কুসুমিত-দ্রুমদলশোভিনীং।
সুহাসিনীং সুমধুর ভাষিণীং সুখদাং বরদাং মাতরম্‌॥

সপতসিন্ধু-সুন্দরী, দাশপ্রাণ-ধারিণী,
তব জয়গাথে গাও ব্রাহ্মণ, কৃষক, ভিক্ষুক, শ্রমিক।
তব ধূলিতলে রাখে মস্তক, শিরে আনে তব পাদতল-অমৃত।
বন্দে মাতরম্‌॥

তুমি দুর্গা দাশপ্রহারণধারিণী, কমলমালিনী,
বেণুমাধব-রূপধারিণী।
তুমি কামিনী, তুমি দুর্গা শারদা।
বন্দে মাতরম্‌॥

তুমি কামিনী, তুমি দুর্গা, দশপ্রহরণধারিণী।
কমলমালিনী, বেণুমাধব-রূপধারিণী।
দশপ্রহরণধারিণী।
তুমি দুর্গা, কোমলমালিনী, বেণুমাধব-রূপধারিণী।
বন্দে মাতরম্‌॥

তব সপতসিন্ধু-জননী, দুধে-ভাতে পূর্ণ।
তব অরণ্য তব পর্বত মঙ্গলময়ী।
তব হিমগিরি তব যমুনা তব গঙ্গা মঙ্গলময়ী।
বন্দে মাতরম্‌॥

তব শত্রুরে তব অস্ত্রে তব বক্ষে।
সদা জয়ধ্বনি বেজে ওঠে, তব জয়।
বন্দে মাতরম্‌॥

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Full English Prose Translation by Sri Aurobindo (1909)

Mother, I bow to thee!

Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with the 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!

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flashes out in twice seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?

With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call, Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!

To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and sea
And shook herself free.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen;
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And Saraswati wisdom-crowned;
Thou art in best of thy sons revealed,
Mother! Mother! Mighty, mild!

Terrible in the battle-arrayed,
Swift as a wind, glorious, golden-haired!

Mother! Oh Mother!
To thee I bow.

Hail to thee, hail to thee, Mother!

Mother, I bow to thee!

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💬 Meaning by stanzas

• The first two stanzas describe the natural beauty of India — rivers, crops, breezes, and the gentle, nurturing character of the motherland.
• The middle and later stanzas turn devotional and heroic, portraying the Mother as Maa Durga, Maa Lakshmi, Maa Saraswati — divine feminine forces of power, wealth, and wisdom.
• The weird part is ,Jinnah was not supposed to dictate what was happening in India!He was already getting Pakistan .

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Adopted as India’s National Song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.
Vande Mataram was initially composed independently and later included in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel “Anandamath” (published in 1882).
This song was sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress Session in Calcutta.
Vande Mataram, as a political slogan, was first used on 7 August 1905.

This is part of Blogchatter Half Marathon .