Vande Mataram Slams a Ton

So today we are celebrating centenary of the immortal song. Song was a part of Anandmatha a creation by Bankim Chandra and soon became a rage among all those people who felt they had this irrestible force to move mountains(read throw out the colonialism).Vande Mataram" was the national cry for freedom from British oppression during the freedom movement. Abhorrance shown to the song (by britishers) was no way surprising, I stiil remember those days when a toddler me somehow used to venture out to those places where they used to sing Vande mataram in evening hours and unwillingly i used to trudge along and sing it.

Song is not bereft of emotions but can't claim being sans controversies as well.
While Vande Mataram was treated as the national anthem of India for long, ultimately Jana Gana Mana, was chosen as the national anthem of independent India. The song was rejected on the grounds that Muslims felt offended by its depiction of the nation as "Ma Durga"—a Hindu goddess— thus equating the nation with the Hindu conception of shakti, divine feminine dynamic force; and by its origin as part of Anandamatha, a novel they felt had an anti-Muslim message .Indian National congress discussed at length the status of the song. It was pointed out then that though the first two stanzas began with an unexceptionable evocation of the beauty of the motherland, in later stanzas there are refences where the motherland is likened to godess Durga. Therefore, the Congress decided to adopt only the first two stanzas as the national song.


But then something dawned facilitated by truly majestic indian ARR(AR Rahman.. i am biased in his favor and no qualms in accepting that). The man crooned "Maan Tujhe Salaam" , which redefined the whole patriotism mantra n really rocked . For my generation "Maan Tujhe Salaam" became the true vande mataram..

The fact that Vande Mataram is still popular today can be attested to by the fact that it was recently voted by listeners as the second most requested song by the BBC's World Service radio.

Time to render it once more...(courtesy Wikipedia)

सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
सस्य श्यामलां मातरंम् .
शुभ्र ज्योत्सनाम् पुलकित यामिनीम्
फुल्ल कुसुमित द्रुमदलशोभिनीम्,
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम् .
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ॥

सप्त कोटि कन्ठ कलकल निनाद कराले
द्विसप्त कोटि भुजैर्ध्रत खरकरवाले
के बोले मा तुमी अबले
बहुबल धारिणीम् नमामि तारिणीम्
रिपुदलवारिणीम् मातरम् ॥

तुमि विद्या तुमि धर्म, तुमि ह्रदि तुमि मर्म
त्वं हि प्राणाः शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारै प्रतिमा गडि मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे ॥

त्वं हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी
कमला कमलदल विहारिणी
वाणी विद्यादायिनी, नमामि त्वाम्
नमामि कमलां अमलां अतुलाम्
सुजलां सुफलां मातरम् ॥

श्यामलां सरलां सुस्मितां भूषिताम्
धरणीं भरणीं मातरम् ॥