VANDE MATARAM AT 150: RECLAIMING A CIVILIZATIONAL LEGACY

In 1875, when Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay penned Vande Mataram, he was not even aware of the emotions that it would become the battle cry against the colonisers and thus represent the emotions of all Bharatiya while providing them the idea of integrity among all.

- DR PRASHANT BARTHWAL

A century and a half later, this song still has the same fervour that, due to partial facts, ignites the fierce debates. Critics have referred to it as the exclusionary and Muslim-baiter, but believers treat it as the Mantra for real Rashtra Bhawna. However, this manufactured controversy obscures a profound truth: it represents a civilizational legacy that transcends all spiritual limits, where everyone has fair and equal space in this nation.

The colonial time in 1875 was suffocating under a specific sort of oppression, i.e. cultural erasure. We were forced to despise the civilisational values, to see traditions as primitive, identity as shameful. Anandamath, where the song appears for the second time in history, after it was published in a Bangadarsan to fill the remaining space of the journal, was penned to highlight the Sannyasi rebellion against the Vidharmi's. The Mother, he mentioned in the Song, wasn't a goddess demanding spiritual worship; instead, she was the portrayal of the nation itself. Every culture has grasped for intimate language to express what a rashtra or matrubhumi means. It was observed during these manufactured political debates that they have eroded the understanding between literary metaphor and scriptural doctrine. This song is about the language that everyone readily understands, the source of life and sustenance; this isn’t a worship practice.