Vande Mataram (literally meaning “Hail Mother” / “I bow to the Mother”), the immortal and scintillating song of Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1838-1894), was first published in his novel, Anandamath (1882), dealing with the revolt of the Sannyasis in 1773. The translation of the novel into various Indian languages focussed attention on the message of Vande Mataram. The two opening words of the song evoked perceptions of the Motherland in all its beauty, serenity and glory. The song was included in the list of common Bengali songs in the records of the political branch of the Criminal Investigation Department, Bengal (1912) with the remark: “This is the well-known Vande Mataram song by the late Rai Bankim Chandra Chatarji Bahadur, CIE. It may be noted that this song in Anandamath is perhaps wholly responsible for the introduction of the cry of Vande Mataram now so much favoured by the Indians”.

The cry of Vande Mataram is itself innocent, wrote the Indian Spectator (16 May 1908) and Sir Andrew Fraser, the Lt. Governor of Bengal once responded to it in the streets by respectfully taking off his hat. The message of the song “ metamorphosed into a slogan” in course of the political agitation and provided the much needed spark to bring about national awakening. To the nationalists, it was a sort of Bible, indeed a cry of defiance to be used as a provocation.

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During the long and arduous freedom struggle between 1905 and 1947, the people shouted Vande Mataram first as a patriotic slogan and then as a battle cry. It became a fashion to shout Vande Mataram at Europeans and the police. Just as Marseillaise (the national song of republican France composed in 1792) inspired the French people with the feeling of patriotism, so too did the song Vande Mataram for the people of India. During Bankim Chandra’s lifetime, Vande Mataram was not used as a war cry. It was only after the Partition of Bengal (1905) when the political soul was awakened and the nation was searching for the discovery of a medium “by which it could express itself to itself” that Vande Mataram became a living slogan for the nationalists. As a mantra of nationalism, it was uttered through thousands of voices on the fateful day ~ 7 August, 1905 ~ in connection with the historic Town Hall meeting that promulgated the resolution of Boycott and the vow of Swadeshi.

The real significance of Vande Mataram was not understood until militant nationalism found its full expression during the Swadeshi and revolutionary movement in Bengal. It became a war cry of national resurgence. It was a routine song during demonstrations for the boycott of foreign goods. Even the presence of the police was not always effective in stopping those who raised the slogan. Though it was largely raised by middle class students and youth, there are police reports that the song was articulated by mill workers as well. In October 1905, the workers of the British-owned Fort Gloster Mill near Calcutta shouted Vande Mataram at the European assistants.

There are also police reports in East Bengal regarding attacks of grain boats to the accompaniment of the cries of Vande Mataram. In a note prepared in 1917, J E Armstrong, Superintendent of Police on special duty, who was appointed to investigate militant nationalist operation in Eastern Bengal, noted that “there is scarcely a revolutionary document that is not headed with the words, Om Vande Mataram. The revolutionaries of Bengal attempted to spread their ideas and messages through numerous leaflets and pamphlets most of which began with the slogan Vande Mataram and sometimes also ended with it. They also began or concluded their letters and messages or declarations with the mantra. This indicated the feeling of patriotism. Even anonymous letters or threatening notices sent to police officers began with Vande Mataram. Tegart, the Police Commissioner of Calcutta, once received a typed notice by post with the heading Vande Mataram.

It was not merely a political slogan. It was a solemn oath of allegiance to the motherland. The slogan gave the nationalists the vision of the motherland as a goddess and gave birth to patriotism. And this worked miracles. It was a mantra of a “new religion of patriotism” given to the nation by “Rishi Bankim Chandra”. The slogan spurred the young revolutionaries to cheerfully ascend the gallows with Vande Mataram on their lips.

The slogan was also associated with acts of violence and assault on British officers. The war cry was also raised by the Bengal revolutionaries when they committed political dacoities and murders.

An order emanating from the Chief Secretary’s camp, Dacca, in Novemer 1905 noted that no processions were to be allowed in public streets which were likely to shout Vande Mataram. On 18 January 1906, the Inspector of Schools, Dacca Division, requested the Headmaster of Kishoreganj High School to call upon boys of first and second classes to copy out 500 times the following : “It is foolish and rude to waste time in shouting Vande Mataram”. The students were told to furnish the note to the Inspector of Schools with the words, “Each is the unaided work of the boys whose writing it purports to be”. The headmaster was further informed that “unless all causes of complaint are immediately removed all grants will be in danger of being withdrawn”. This is a glaring example of the fact that the British Government was unnerved by the spirit of the song.

However, it was difficult to impose a ban on the song. The presence of the police or British officials usually heightened the enthusiasm of the slogan shouters. The slogan also received publicity during court trials when many of the accused defiantly shouted Vande Mataram in the court of law. The martyrs made the slogan their mantra. The two words also became popular through photographs of extremists and nationalists, with Vande Mataram as the caption.

Thus both visually and verbally, the slogan Vande Mataram was “foregrounded as the core idea that inspired the nationalist struggle from 1905 onwards. While the song Vande Mataram enjoyed enormous popularity in Bengal, the slogan “as a rallying cry was the disseminated seedling of the nationalist spirit”. The slogan injected life, courage and vigour in the minds of the nationalists. Its appeal was not limited to Bengal. The words were used as a form of greeting even in distant Punjab. (The Tribune, 25 November, 1905).

Thus the two simple words Vande Mataram towards which the Government developed an intense dislike, sounded the death-knell of British imperialism in India. The song and the slogan jolted the Raj to its foundations.