Prologue
I am touching on a very controversial topic today as is evident from the title of this post. Let me clarify that I am an Indian to the deepest core and I fully respect my National Anthem. Its position is secure in my heart as is in the hearts of all other Indians. This post is not to demean our National Anthem but will try to look into the circumstances that led to Jana-Gana-Mana being adopted as our National Anthem and Vande Maataram being assigned the title of our national song. All views expressed here are my personal views and the reader may or may not subscribe to them. I will begin with a treatise on Vande Maataram and then in the next part of the topic I shall be discussing about Jana Gana Mana, our National Anthem, in comparison to Vande Maataram. I would also like to clarify that I have only included those versions of Vande Maataram which include the original verses as penned down by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay or part thereof. There have been many variations of Vande Maataram in both lyrics and tune and I have purposefully omitted those with only the term Vande Maataram in the entire song, those inspired by Vande Maataram with totally different lyrics and translation of Vande Maataram into other languages (barring one in English). I have tried to include the different versions of Vande Maataram in the different ragas in which it has been sung.
Vande Maataram
Little did Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1837-94) foresee the epic role that his composition, Vande Maataram, would play in India's freedom struggle. As he sat on the banks of the river Hooghly (The Ganges, as it is known in the southern part of West Bengal, before it merges with the vast expanse of the Bay of Bengal) in his native locality of KaNthalpara (KaNthal - Bengali for Jack Fruit and Para - Bengali for conglomeration of few houses usually smaller than a village; a locality within a village usually demarcated on the basis of the profession of the inhabitants) in the Naihati village of the erstwhile 24 Parganas district of Bengal. (For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the geography of West Bengal, let me add that Naihati is no longer a village but a teeming town in the North 24 Parganas district, about 37 kilometers by train, north of Sealdah station in Kolkata and KaNthalpara still exists).
The date was 7th November 1875 and Bankim Chandra wrote the whole song, partly in Sanskrit and partly in Bengali, in one sitting. He was probably moved by the need of the hour - the need to imbibe the Indians with a strong feeling of nationhood, the need of a guiding force in her freedom struggle; he having witnessed the unsuccessful Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and the attempt to force "God Save The Queen" on Indians as the national anthem by the British Raj around the year 1870. It was first published in the Bengali magazine
Bangadarshan in 1879. These verses were later included by Bankim Chandra in his epic novel
Anandamath which was first published as a serial in the magazine
Bangadarshan from 1880-82. Bankim Chandra was a writer par excellence in classical Bengali and his works included mainly novels and essays; he rarely wrote poems and verses apart from those as a part of his stories.
This is what Bankim Chandra wrote in Sanskrit and Bengali. For the benefit of readers it is being presented here in English alphabets.
"Vande maataraM
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM
SasyashyaamalaaM maataram ||
Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM
phullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM ||
Sapta koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaale
Dwisapta koti bhujai.rdhR^itakharakaravaale
abalaa keno maa eto bale
bahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiM
ripudalavaariNiiM maataraM ||
Tumi vidyaa tumi dharma
tumi hR^idi tumi marma
tvaM hi praaNaaH shariire
Baahute tumi maa shakti
hR^idaye tumi maa bhakti
tomaara i pratimaa gaDi
mandire mandire ||
TvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNii
kamalaa kamaladala vihaariNii
vaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM
Namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM
SujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM ||
ShyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM
DharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM |"
Much later Sri Aurobindo translated it into English. Here is the original translation which I thought should find its place right after the original Sanskrit/Bengali text for the benefit of readers.
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!
Though who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free.
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Though art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her
swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Lovilest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free!
The fact that although the novelist was himself a musician, he never composed the music for Vande Maataram. It was set to tune by Pandit Jadunath Bhattacharya (1840-83) from Bhatpara (another locality near Naihati, whose chief inhabitants were Bhattacharyas). It was most likely set in
Malhar raga; Kawali taal, but unfortunately that melody is long lost. There is a footnote in Anandamath, in the first edition of Bankim Rachanavali (collected works of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay) that the song is in Malhar raga, ektaal. (Personal communication with Dr. Siddhartha Chatterjee). There is no way to confirm what Jadunath composed, but to speculate.
Pandit Jadu Nath Bhattacharya (1840-83)
A maestro of Bishnupur gharana, Jadu Bhatta, as he was popularly known, was born in the year of 1840. He was a resident of Kadakuri, a village beside Bishnupur town in West Bengal. His father Madhusudan Bhattacharaya was an eminent classical vocalist and also instrumentalist. Jadunath at very tender age learnt 'sitar' and 'mridanga' from his father. Latter, he learnt music from Ramshankar Bhattacharaya and Ganganarayan Chattopadhyay, both the court musicians of Bishnupur Rajas. Jadunath was the music teacher of Rabindranath Tagore in his young age. For his melodious voice, Rajas of Panchakote conferred him with the title of 'Ranganath' and Maharaja of Tripura, Birchandra Manikya conferred him the title of 'Tanraj'. He had written many songs in Bengali and Hindi. He was known for 'Khanderbani' dhrupad music. At the age of 43 he expired.
This is an example of Raga Malhar to give you a feeling how the original composition would have sounded.
Sometime before Bankim's death the first two verses of the song were set to music by the poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and he sang it at the sixth session of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1896. Tagore used the raga Desh and Ek tal.
Below is an example of Raga Des.
After this, in the 1901 Indian National Congress session, Dakshinaranjan Sen sang it and thus was started the convention of starting the Congress sessions with Vande Maataram and the song started gaining popularity. Given the popularity of the song Nicole Record Company and Bose Records engaged Rabindranath Tagore to sing for them on Gramophone Records. These records were pressed by Pathe company in Paris and when the British police destroyed the existing stock of this gramophone record in Kolkata, a few of them survived in France and Belgium. This is oldest available recording of Vande Maataram and is recorded by none other than Rabindranath Tagore. Unfortunately it is a collector's item and not available readily. I was unable to get the recording although All India Radio has published it as a CD alongwith the book
Rabindranath Tagore : Facets of a genius, in 1996.
Below is a rendition of Vande Maataram as per the tune set by Tagore.
Tagore set the "Laya" of his original composition in raga Des as "Vilambit - Laya" (slow pace). The other Layas possible are "Drut - Laya" (fast pace) and "Madhyam - Laya (medium pace). Below are two examples of Vande Maataram being performed in Raga Des in Vilambit and Drut Laya by Harindranath Chattopadhyay (brother of Sarojini Naidu) and Hemanta Mukherjee respectively.
This is a photograph of the gramophone record of Vande Maataram by Rabindranath Tagore on Bose Record in collaboration with Pathe Record, Paris.
This is a version of Vande Maataram being sung as a chorus led by Dwijen Choudhury and also including Nihar Bindu Sen, Gita Naha, Suchitra Mitra, Debabrata Biswas, Supriti Ghosh & Kanak Biswas Das.
The song when sung in Raga Des, as was first done by Tagore, led to its acceptance by the masses and even the official website of the Government of India has the song in Raga Des. This is the official version of Vande Maataram, in the form that has been assigned the status of the national song of India; with the first two stanzas of the original composition.
This is the orchestral rendition by the All India Radio orchestra.
Another one in the same Raga by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
The fact that since Bankim Chandra did not himself assign a tune to his composition, the proponents of Vande Maataram were at liberty to set a tune according to their interpretation and according to the occasion where it was being performed.
Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar had composed this song in the Raga Kafi and he used to sing the whole song based on this raga in all the meetings and gatherings including the annual conventions of the Indian National Congress. Later Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, a disciple of Pt. Paluskar, also popularized the song in the same raga and he sang this version on 15th August 1947 from the studios of All India Radio, standing in attention throughout while singing Vande Maataram, as the entire nation heard him holding its breath.
Below is an example of raga Kafi followed by the rendition in Pt. Omkarnath Thakur's voice.
Pandit V D Ambhaikar, set the song to tune in raga Khambavati. Below is Vande Maataram being sung in this raga by Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur gharana (mother of Kishori Amonkar).
Dilip Kumar Roy, another stalwart in the field of Indian music, also recorded Vande Maataram in his own voice which was a conglomeration of ragas Bilawal and Bageshwari.
Here mention must be made of Master Krishnarao Fulambrikar, who single handedly fought a battle to make Vande Maataram the National Anthem of India. Though Jana Gana Mana was declared the National Anthem of independent India on the 24th of January 1950, it was due to the efforts of Krishnarao that Vande Maataram was assigned the glory of being called the national song. Here is his rendition in raga Jhinjhoti.
Pandit Vishnupant Pagnis sang Vande Maataram in a different style, in the reverse order and in the raga Vrindavani Sarang. Here is his composition.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose declared Vande Maataram the marching song of The Indian National Army. The version which was adopted by the INA was composed by Timir Baran Bhattacharya and was based on raga Durga. Here is that song both as a vocal rendition and as a marching song on a military band.
In the post independence era, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Hemant Kumar) composed one of his masterpieces for the Hindi film Anandamath (1952). Composed with a mixture of ragas Sindhu Bhairavi and Ahir Bhairav this song is still popular among the masses. Here is the song in two different forms, sung by Hemanta and Lata Mangeshkar from the same film.
And how can one forget the revival of Vande Maataram by A R Rahman based on which Vande Maataram was chosen as the world's second best song by the BBC on 21st December 2002. Incidentally this is also in raga Des and has the saxophone played wonderfully by Chris Davis.
There are many songs with the words Vande Maataram in them, but only two are worth mentioning here. The first one is by M S Subbulakshmi called
Vande Maataram Nalirmani Neerum written by Thyagaraja and the second one is composed by David Mills and is called
The Land Belongs to the Children.
I shall be ending the first part now by providing you with two renditions of Vande Maataram; the first on Sarod by Pandit Amjad Ali Khan and the second on Santoor by Pandit Rajan Sharma, both in raga Des.
The second part of this topic will deal with the circumstances which led to Jana Gana Mana being selected the National Anthem of India and Vande Maataram being declared the national song of India with my interpretation of the situation. As it remains a controversial topic I intend to publish it after a full research and verifying all relevant aspects.
