New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed several historical facts and incidents in his speech initiating a special discussion in the Parliament on Monday, marking the sesquicentennial celebration of India’s national song, Vande Mataram.

In a strong pitch against colonial rule of those days, he pointed out how the song, penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay about 18 years after the Revolt of 1857, marked the uprising as well as in protest against the administration’s push at promoting the British anthem “God Save the King”.

Chattopadhyay wrote the poem in a mix of Sanskrit and Bengali words, which he later used in his book Anandamath, published in 1882.

The theme is set on the events of the eighteenth century ‘Sannyasis’ (Hindu monks) rebellion against the East India Company’s rule in Bengal.

In Anandamath, the “Santan (children) are described fighting colonial oppression and repression to break the shackles that bound ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother India).

The Prime Minister reminded “Janani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi” (My motherland is greater than Heaven).

This finds mention in Anandamath while explaining “Vande Mataram” (Mother, I Bow to Thee), which is in reverence to the land of birth.

“Mother India is also the Goddess of knowledge and prosperity. And facing enemies, she is the weapon-wielding Goddess Chandi,” PM Modi reminded.

As Chandi, Goddess Durga is the manifestation of Shakti, the divine energy, that destroys evil.

The Prime Minister also recited the part in ‘Vande Mataram’ where Chattopadhyay described the manifestation of powers that is Goddess Durga.

The central plot of the novel revolves around a group of Sanyasis, known as ‘Santan’, who dedicate their lives to the cause of the Motherland.

They venerate the Motherland personified as the Mother Goddess; their devotion is solely to their land of birth.

Vande Mataram is the song sung by the Santan of Anandamath.

It stood as the symbol of the “religion of patriotism” that was the central theme of the novel.

In their temple, they placed three images of the mother representing the motherland: Mother that was, great and glorious in her majestic grandeur; Mother that is wretched and grovelling in the dust; Mother that will be, in her pristine glory.

In the words of Sri Aurobindo, “The Mother of his vision held trenchant steel in her twice seventy million hands and not the bowl of the mendicant.”

The Santan’s spoke of a Mother who in the past was in the form of a beautiful, all-accomplished, adorned in finery, as ‘Jagadharti’, the form of Durga revered in her role as a protector and sustainer of the universe.

In those days of oppression, she represented another form, that of Goddess Kali who stood in the darkness of a cave, aggressive, flaunting weapon.

But the Santan wanted the Motherland to be free and happy, as in the form of the ten-armed Goddess who represent happiness, bestowed blessing, and brought well-being for her children all around.

The forms symbolised the situation in the country and the condition of the Motherland.

What those fighting for her freedom and peace sought was embodied in the form that they worshipped.

As PM Modi pointed out: Vande Mataram gave a sense of courage and support where the fight was not to grab land but to get rid of slavery; it was not a mantra for Independence but also for “Swadeshi”, or self-dependence.

Vande Mataram was adopted as India’s National Song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950, which was first sung by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress Session in Calcutta.

Prior to its publication in book form, Anandamath was serialised in the March-April 1881 issue of Bengali magazine ‘Bangadarshan’ of which Chattopadhyay was the founder editor.

In 1907, Madam Bhikaji Cama raised the tricolour flag for the first-time outside India in Stuttgart, Berlin.

The words ‘Vande Mataram’ was written on the flag. Since it was published, through the subsequent period of struggle for Independence, the song remained a potent form of protest, while raising the pitch for patriotism.

–IANS

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