Vande Mataram

-- Alsha K. Saji , 7-A, Carmel School Kuwait

Monday, January 10, 2022

It was the year 1857. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was in college. It was in the same year when the ‘Revolt of 1857’ took place. After he completed his B.A., he soon joined the British government, ‘like father like son.’ He was the deputy collector of Murshidabad but was transferred to Berhampore. He and the commanding officer, Colonel Duffin of Berhampore were like the bull and the crow and were subsequently the grist for the gossip mill.

One fine day, Bankim babu, as he was fondly addressed, was returning home when his litter carriers took a short-cut route to make it towards his house. The route cut through the Barracks square field where his nemesis Colonel Duffin was playing cricket. As the palanquin approached the field, their game was disturbed. Provoked, Duffin dragged Bankim Chandra out and slapped him angrily. Bankim Chandra, offended, filed a case in the court with a large group of witnesses along with him.

The court demanded a public apology from Duffin to Bankim babu. Humiliated, he planned to eliminate Bankim Chandra. Raja Joginder Narayan of Lalgola, smelling whiffs of this conspiracy convinced Bankim babu to stay at Lalgola. It was here he became interested in the idols of various goddesses. Goddess Kali always caught his attention. He was troubled by the vision of Kali dressing his motherland in a wreath of skulls, which showed the misery his land was suffering from. Inspired, he wrote, ‘Vande Mataram…’Let’s accelerate to 1896, the first time when Vande Mataram was recited in the Indian National Congress by Rabindranath Tagore. Following, it was taken as a marching song in India’s Freedom Movement in 1905. After India’s independence the government decided that national song should be Vande Mataram for its high value in history. But the Muslim league authorities were against this decision as the song had lines where Bankim Chandra compared our mother land with different Hindu goddesses. On 24th January 1950, the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, cut down the Muslim rebellions by declaring the first two stanzas of the Vande Mataram as our national song, which had no religious connotations.
“Vande mataram.. vande mataram..
Sujalam suphalam malayaja sheetalam
Shasyashyamalam maataram, vande mataram”

Alsha K.Saji, 7-A, Carmel School Kuwait