Vande Mataram - Lyrics and Translation

May 23, 2011

Vande Mataram is the national song of India. It was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in a mixture of Bengali and Sanskrit. Vande Mataram comes from a poem from Bankim Chandra's 1882 novel Anandamath. The first political occasion where it was sung was the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. In 1950 (after India's independence), the song's first two verses were given the official status of the "national song" of the Republic of India, distinct from the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana.

In 2003, BBC World Service conducted an international poll to choose ten most famous songs of all time. Around 7000 songs were selected from all over the world. According to BBC, people from 155 countries/island voted. Vande Mataram was second in the top 10 songs.

Here is a Raag Des composition sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Below you can find the lyrics and several translations of Vande Mataram.

Vande Mataram Lyrics in Hindi/Sanskrit

वन्दे मातरम् सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम् शस्यशामलां मातरम् ।

शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीं फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीं सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीं सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ।। १ ।।

वन्दे मातरम् ।

कोटि-कोटि-कण्ठ-कल-कल-निनाद-कराले कोटि-कोटि-भुजैर्धृत-खरकरवाले, अबला केन मा एत बले ।

बहुबलधारिणीं नमामि तारिणीं रिपुदलवारिणीं मातरम् ।। २ ।।

वन्दे मातरम् ।

तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म त्वं हि प्राणा: शरीरे बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति, हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति, तोमारई प्रतिमा गडि मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे मातरम् ।। ३ ।।

वन्दे मातरम् ।

त्वं हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी कमला कमलदलविहारिणी वाणी विद्यादायिनी, नमामि त्वाम् नमामि कमलां अमलां अतुलां सुजलां सुफलां मातरम् ।। ४ ।।

वन्दे मातरम् ।

श्यामलां सरलां सुस्मितां भूषितां धरणीं भरणीं मातरम् ।। ५ ।।

वन्दे मातरम् ।।

Vande Mataram Lyrics in English

vande maataram..

maataram..

sujalaam sufalaam malayaj sheetalaam

sasyashyaamalaam maataram

vande..

shubhrajyotsna pulakit yaaminiim

phulla kusumita drumadal shobhiniim

suhaasinim sumadhura bhaashhinim

sukhadaam varadaam

maataram.. vande maataram

sapta koti kantha kalakala ninaada karaale

nisapta koti bhujaidhruta kharakarvaale

sapta koti kantha kalakala ninaada karaale

nisapta koti bhujaidhruta kharakarvaale

ka bola ka noma eith bole

bahubal dhaariniin namaami taariniim

ripudalavaariniin maataram

vande maataram ...

tumi vidyaa tumi dharma, tumi hridi tumi marma

tvan hi praanaah shariire

baahute tumi maa shakti,

hridaye tumi maa bhakti,

tomaarai pratimaa gadi mandire mandire

vande maataram..

tvan hi durgaa dashapraharanadhaarinii

kamalaa kamaladala vihaarinii

vaanii vidyaadaayinii, namaami tvaam

namaami kamalaan amalaan atulaam

sujalaan sufalaan maataram

vande maataram..

shyaamalaan saralaan susmitaan bhuushhitaam

dharaniin bharaniin maataram

vande maataram....

Translation by Shivpreet Singh

Mother, I praise you!

Rich with your gushing streams,

bright with orchard gleams,

Cool with your winds of delight,

Dark fields waving Mother of might,

Mother, I praise you!

Glory of moonlight dreams,

Over thy branches and lordly streams,

Clad in your blossoming trees,

Mother, giver of ease

Laughing low and sweet!

Mother I kiss your feet,

Speaker sweet and low!

Mother, I praise you.

Who has said you are weak in your lands

When the swords flash out in seventy million hands

And seventy million voices roar

Your dreadful name from shore to shore?

With many strengths who are mighty and stored,

To you I call Mother and Lord!

You who save, arise and save!

To her I cry who ever her foeman drove

Back from plain and Sea

And shook herself free.

You are wisdom, you are law,

You are our heart, our soul, our breath

You are love divine, the awe

In our hearts that conquers death.

Yours the strength that nerves the arm,

Yours the beauty, yours the charm.

Every image made divine

In our temples is but yours. [Verse 3]

You are Durga, Lady and Queen,

With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,

You are Lakshmi lotus-throned,

And the Muse a hundred-toned,

Pure and perfect without peer,

Mother lend thine ear,

Rich with your hurrying streams,

Bright with your orchard gleams,

Dark of hue O candid-fair [Verse 4]

In your soul, with bejeweled hair

And thy glorious smile divine,

Loveliest of all earthly lands,

Showering wealth from well-stored hands!

Mother, mother mine!

Mother sweet, I praise you,

Mother great and free! [Verse 5]

Translation Vande Mataram by Sri Aurobindo

Here is the translation in prose of the above two stanzas rendered by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. This has also been adopted by the Government of India's national portal. The original Vande Mataram consists of six stanzas and the translation in prose for the complete poem by Shri Aurobindo appeared in Karmayogin, 20 November 1909.

Mother, I praise 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 praise thee. [Verse 1]

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the swords flash out in 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!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free. [Verse 2]

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Thou art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerves the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine. [Verse 3]

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 [Verse 4]

In thy soul, with bejeweled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I praise thee,
Mother great and free! [Verse 5]

Translation by Keshab Bhattarai

Salutations (to you), oh Mother!
(You are blessed with) Richness in water
resources, plenty of fruits (and forest
resources), flushed with cool air breezing
from Malaya mountains;
Green with rice plants o ! our motherland
Salutations (to you), oh Mother!

Where nights are made joyous by sparkling light
very beautiful by buds-flowers- and rows of trees
Always looking pleasant, sweet speaking
giver of happiness and riches
o! our motherland!
Salutations (to you), oh Mother!

Seventy million voices are heard (praising you) in kalakala sound
many million hands have taken swords (for your protection)
How can I say that you are a helpless woman?
I pray (to you), oh savier mother adorned
with strength, the destroyer of enemies.
Salutations (to you), oh Mother!

You are embodiment of wisdom, virtues
(religion), love, and the essence (of everything).
You are certainly the life force in (our) bodies.
Oh Mother, you are strength in (our) arms,
Oh Mother, you are devotion in (our) hearts,
Your (sacred) image is in every temple
Salutations (to you), oh Mother!

You are indeed the ten-handed Durga goddess,
you are the goddess of wealth, Kamala or
Laxmi, residing on the lotus,
you are the bestower of (power of) speech and
knowledge - Goddess Saraswati, I pray to you.
I salute you oh pure unmatched Goddess KamalA.
You are blessed with water resources,
blessed with plenty of fruits,
Salutations (to you), oh Mother!

You are peaceful, kind, pleasant, and beautiful.
Oh Mother earth, nourisher, salutations.
Salutations (to you), oh Mother! Vande Mataram

Vande Maataram - An ode to the motherland

An ode to the Motherland, it was written in Bengali script in the novel Anandmath. The title 'Vande Mataram' means "I bow to thee, Mother" or "I bow to thee, Mother". The "mother goddess" in later verses of the song has been interpreted as the motherland of the people –– Banga Mata (Mother Bengal)and Bharat Mata (Mother India), though the text does not mention this explicitly.

It played a vital role in the Indian independence movement, first sung in a political context by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. It became a popular marching song for political activism and Indian freedom movement in 1905. Spiritual Indian nationalist and philosopher Sri Aurobindo referred it as "National Anthem of Bengal". The song and the novel containing it was banned by the British government, but workers and general public defied the ban, many went to colonial prisons repeatedly for singing it, and the ban was overturned by the Indians after they gained independence from the colonial rule.

On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India has adopted "Vande Mataram" as national song. On the occasion, the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad stated that the song should be honoured equally with the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana". However the Constitution of India does not have any mention of "national song".

The first two verses of the song are an abstract reference to mother and motherland, they do not mention any Hindu deity by name, unlike later verses that do mention goddesses such as Durga. There is no time limit or circumstantial specification for the rendition of this song unlike the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" that specifies 52 seconds.

Controversies with Vande Mataram

Parts of the Vande Mataram was chosen as the national song in 1937 by the Indian National Congress as it pursued independence of India from the British colonial rule, after a committee consisting of Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose, Acharya Deva and Rabrindanath Tagore recommended the adoption. The entire song was not selected by Hindu leaders in order to respect the sentiments of non-Hindus, and the gathering agreed that anyone should be free to sing an alternate "unobjectionable song" at a national gathering if they do not want to sing Vande Mataram because they find it "objectionable" for a personal reason. According to the gathered leaders, including the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, though the first two stanzas began with an unexceptionable evocation of the beauty of the motherland, in later stanzas there are references to the Hindu goddess Durga. The Muslim League and Muhammad Ali Jinnah opposed the song. Thereafter, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Indian National Congress decided to adopt only the first two stanzas as the national song to be sung at public gatherings, and other verses that included references to Durga and Lakshmi were expunged.

Rajendra Prasad, who was presiding the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950, made the following statement which was also adopted as the final decision on the issue:

... The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words as the Government may authorise as occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it. (Applause). I hope this will satisfy the Members.
—Constituent Assembly of India, Vol. XII, 24-1-1950[47]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vande_Mataram for more information.