The National Song of India
The song Vande Mataram, composed by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of inspiration to the people in
their struggles for freedom. It has an equal status with jana-gana-mana. The first political session when it was sung
was the 1896 session of the Indian National congress. The following is the text of its first stanza:
Sujalam, suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobinim,
Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim,
Sukhadam varadam, Mataram!
English translation of the stanza rendered by Sri Aurobindo in prose is;
I bow to thee, mother,
cool with the winds of the south, dark with the crops of the
harvests, the Mother!
Her nights rejoicing in the glory of the moonlight,
her lands clothed beautifully with her trees in flowering bloom,
sweet of laughter, sweet of speech,
the Mother, giver of boons, giver of bliss.