SYLLABUS
GS-1: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
Context: The Prime Minister of India attended a special programme in New Delhi on November 7 to mark the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram.
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• The Government of India will commemorate the occasion in four phases:
- Phase 1 (7–14 November 2025): The commemoration begins with a national inaugural event at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Delhi, alongside public celebrations across the country. The main highlight of this phase is the release of a commemorative coin and stamp.
- Phase 2 (19–26 January 2026): Events during this phase will highlight Vande Mataram as a symbol of India’s unity and patriotism, coinciding with Republic Day celebrations through cultural and educational programmes nationwide.
- Phase 3 (7–15 August 2026): Activities will align with Independence Day celebrations, featuring musical performances, patriotic displays, and outreach initiatives to deepen public engagement with the national song’s legacy.
- Phase 4 (1–7 November 2026): The final phase will mark the culmination of the year-long commemoration, revisiting the spirit of Vande Mataram through concluding cultural events, exhibitions, and media broadcasts.
About Vande Matram
- Composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, ‘Vande Mataram’ was first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan on 7 November 1875.
- Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was an Indian author, whose novels firmly established prose as a literary vehicle for the Bengali language and helped create in India a school of fiction on the European model.
- Later, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee incorporated the hymn in his immortal novel ‘Anandamath’, which was published in 1882.
- Before being published in book form, the novel “Anandamath” was serialised in Bangadarshan magazine, and Vande Mataram appeared in the March–April 1881 issue, marking its first appearance as part of a literary work.
- The song was set to music by Rabindranath Tagore in 1896, who gave it a melodic and patriotic dimension that resonated deeply with the freedom movement.
- In October 1905, a Bande Mataram Sampradaya was founded in North Calcutta to promote the idea of the Motherland as a mission and a religious passion.
- In August 1906, an English daily titled Bande Mataram was launched under the editorship of Bipin Chandra Pal, with Sri Aurobindo later joining as joint editor. It was translated into numerous Indian languages: Marathi (1897), Kannada (1897), Gujarati (1901), Hindi (1906), Telugu (1907), Tamil (1908), and Malayalam (1909), and by the 1920s, as Bhattacharya notes, “Vande Mataram was possibly the most widely known national song in India.”
- In 1937, the Indian National Congress, guided by a committee led by Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to expurgate the portions of the poem containing overtly “idolatrous” references and adopted a part of the text as the national song.
- Later this version was adopted by the Constituent Assembly at the instance of Rajendra Prasad in 1951 as the national song, along with Jana Gana Mana, which was designated the national anthem.
Role of Vande Mataram in the Freedom Struggle
- Symbol of National Unity and Resistance: Vande Mataram emerged as a powerful expression of patriotism and defiance against colonial rule. The British banned its public singing.
- Battle Cry for Resurgent Nationalism: The song played a central role in mass movements such as the 1905 protests against the Partition of Bengal, where around 40,000 people sang Vande Mataram at the Calcutta Town Hall.
- Catalyst for Regional Freedom Movements: The Vande Mataram Movement of Gulbarga (1938) in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region demonstrated the song’s enduring power, as students boldly sang it despite a government ban.
- Influenced Indian Revolutionaries Abroad: In 1907, Madam Bhikaji Cama unfurled the first tricolour flag of Indian independence in Stuttgart, Germany, bearing the words Vande Mataram, on the other hand in 1909, when Madan Lal Dhignra was hanged in England, his last words before he went to the gallows were “Bande Mataram.”