On November 7, at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, a piece titled 'Vande Mataram - Naad ekam, roopam anekam' ("one symphony, varied renditions") was performed by a grand orchestra comprising 70 leading vocal and instrumental musicians, led by violinist Mysore Manjunath. The performance heralded the year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composition of India's national song, 'Vande Mataram'.
Commemorating Bankim Chandra Chaterjee's 'Vande Mataram', composed on November 7, 1875, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamented that when the piece, which became India's National Song in 1950, was adopted by the Working Committee (CWC) of Indian National Congress in 1937, only the first two stanzas were retained and the rest were dispensed with so as not to offend the sentiments of the Muslims. This, he said, sowed the seeds of Partition.
'Vande Mataram' was the battle-cry of the revolutionaries of Bengal in the 1905-11 movement against the partition of Bengal. Thereafter, it became the clarion of mass movements across India. Freedom fighters would climb the British gallows with a smile on their face and 'Vande Mataram' on their lips. The song and slogan became the epitome of the anti-colonial movement. Its public rendition, naturally, was banned by the British.
Tryst With Destiny
On the midnight of August 14-15, 1947, prior to Jawaharlal Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" speech, Sucheta Kriplani (nee' Majumdar) sang 'Vande Mataram' before the Constituent Assembly of India. The first session of Independent India's Constituent Assembly concluded that night with all members singing 'Jan Gan Man'.
August 15, 1947 was heralded by Akashvani (then All India Radio) by broadcasting 'Vande Mataram', sung by Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur at 6.30 am. Since then, Akashvani broadcasts begin each morning with a rendition of 'Vande Mataram', and 'Jai Hind' marks the end of the day's broadcast. Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur had been requested by Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, who also held the Information & Broadcasting portfolio, to herald Independent India on radio.
On January 24, 1950, the President of the Constituent Assembly (and later First President of the Republic of India), Dr Rajendra Prasad, announced in the House that 'Jan Gan Man' would be India's national anthem, and 'Vande Mataram', which has played a historical role, shall be honoured equally and be India's National Song. The Constituent Assembly accepted this without any debate.
The Origin
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' in 1875, at Chinsura in Hooghly district of Bengal, where he was posted as a deputy magistrate. These two stanzas appeared in Bangadarshan, a magazine edited by him. Later, in 1881, when Chatterjee penned his novel Anandamath, based on the Sanyasi Uprising in Bengal in the eighteenth century, he added more stanzas, and the novel was serialised in Bangadarshan. Anandamath caught people's imagination, and 'Vande Mataram' became popular.
Teenager Tagore's Ode
The two-stanza 'Vande Mataram' also caught the imagination of the then teenaged Rabindranath Tagore. In 1879, two years before Anandamath was published, the 18-year-old Tagore wrote a poem praising 'Vande Mataram'. This poem appears as the seventh entry in the section on patriotic songs of Tagore's 'Geeta Bitan'.
"Ek sutre baandhiachhi sahasrati mon, ek kaarje sonpiyachhi sahasra jiban,Vande Mataram..."(translation : We have tied a thousand minds together in one thread; we have dedicated a thousand lives to one task - Vande Mataram. We shall face a thousand obstacles and raging deluge, we, thousands of souls, shall remain fearless - Vande Mataram. .....")
A Rendition For Everyone
In 1886, Chatterjee asked his friend Jadunath Bhattacharya to provide music to his lyrics. Thus, a song composed in raga Malhar emerged. The, in 1889, a session of the Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta. There, the outgoing President, Surendranath Banerjee (a Barrister whose defiance of the British earned him the sobriquet " Surrender Not") asked Tagore to sing 'Vande Mataram'. Tagore composed the song in the Desh raga and approached Chatterjee for his endorsement before rendering it. This session was presided over by a Khoja Muslim Barrister from Bombay, Rahimtulla Mohammed Sayani. Notably, his grandson, Ameen Sayani, would years later become a household name with his Binaca Geet Mala radio programme.
In 1915, VD Paluskar rendered the song in raga Kaafi at a Congress session. Then, Subhas Chandra Bose made Timir Baran compose a marching tune of 'Vande Mataram' in raga Durga. In 1950, MS Subbulakshmi recorded the song as a bhajan. In 1952, Hemanta Mukherjee composed 'Vande Mataram' for the movie Anandamath, which was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. In later years, AR Rehman rendered a modern incorporated version in 'Maa Tujhe Salam'.
'Vande Mataram' was also translated into English by Aurobindo Ghose, who called it the national anthem of Bengal. It was rendered into Tamil by Subramani Bharati and sung by DK Pattamal.
"Nadam ekam, Roopam Anekam", the slogan for commemorating 150 years of the song, is, thus, indeed appropriate.
Tagore's Advice In 1937
The present controversy surrounding the song emanates from the1937 CWC decision on adopting the first two stanzas. The omitted stanzas have references to idol worship, Durga, and had been objected to by the Muslim League in 1937, which cited them as one of the reasons why it could not share power with the Congress in states where no party won a majority in the elections held that year.
The CWC thus constituted a committee comprising the 1937 Congress president Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose (who became president in 1938), Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Acharya Narendra Dev (who later founded the Socialist Party) JB Kripalani (who post-Independence moved the first no-confidence motion against Nehru in Parliament), Rajendra Prasad, Sarojini Naidu, and others. The committee sought the advice of Rabindranath Tagore on the stanzas to be included, and the latter felt that these may become obstacles in the path of unity.
This decision caused a furore: Congress leaders, led by Ramananda Chatterjee (editor of Modern Review) got a petition signed and presented it to Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore was quite upset with the flak he got in Bengal four years prior to his death.
Today, contemporary rulers of West Bengal have remained silent on the 150th anniversary of 'Vande Mataram', which could have provided a platform for Mamata Banerjee to showcase "Bangla pride". The reasons that encumbered the CWC in 1937 are apparently enfettering the Trinamool, too, today.
(The author is a retired editor and public affairs commentator)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
