Vande Mataram
I don't want to be controversial, but I have right to express my opinion. I am reading many stories on objections from a community about singing VANDE MATARAM, National Song of India. (Not national anthem)
I found some interesting things on it and I want to share it with my readers. One communal organization in India has declared ban against singing Vande Mataram, due to the song giving a notion of worshiping Mother India, which is unislamic.
The song was written in 1876 and first it was sung on political meeting in 1896. The first two stanzas describe greatness of the country and later it will start comparing mother India to "Durg Matha". Please remember we are singing only first two stanzas.
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 top 10 songs.
The Song:
Vande Mataram
sujalaam
suphalaam
malayaja sheethalam
shashya shyamalaam
Maataram, vande maataram
Shubhra jothsana pulakitha yaminim
Phulla kusumitat drumah dala shobhinim
Suhasinim, Sumadhura bhAshinim
sukhadaam varadhaam, maataram
Vande mataraam
Meaning of the song in English:
My obeisance to Mother India!
With flowing beneficial waters
Filled with choicest fruits
With Sandal scented winds
Green with the harvest
O mother! My obeisance to you!
Ecstatic moonlit nights
The plants blooming with flowers
Sweet speaker of sweet languages
Fount of blessings,
Mother, I salute you!
I don't really understand what is the problem in saluting to Mother India. I am not sure where the hell I am hurting communal feelings. I don't want to write more, because my comments can be sharp and hurt the feelings.
The next controversy I am expecting is, Demand for Buraka on "Bharat Mata". Again remember , India is a secular country, so am I.
Please consider this as my personal opinion under The Constitution of India. The right to freedom, given in articles 19, 20, 21 and 22.
Thank you for reading !!!
I found some interesting things on it and I want to share it with my readers. One communal organization in India has declared ban against singing Vande Mataram, due to the song giving a notion of worshiping Mother India, which is unislamic.
The song was written in 1876 and first it was sung on political meeting in 1896. The first two stanzas describe greatness of the country and later it will start comparing mother India to "Durg Matha". Please remember we are singing only first two stanzas.
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 top 10 songs.
The Song:
Vande Mataram
sujalaam
suphalaam
malayaja sheethalam
shashya shyamalaam
Maataram, vande maataram
Shubhra jothsana pulakitha yaminim
Phulla kusumitat drumah dala shobhinim
Suhasinim, Sumadhura bhAshinim
sukhadaam varadhaam, maataram
Vande mataraam
Meaning of the song in English:
My obeisance to Mother India!
With flowing beneficial waters
Filled with choicest fruits
With Sandal scented winds
Green with the harvest
O mother! My obeisance to you!
Ecstatic moonlit nights
The plants blooming with flowers
Sweet speaker of sweet languages
Fount of blessings,
Mother, I salute you!
I don't really understand what is the problem in saluting to Mother India. I am not sure where the hell I am hurting communal feelings. I don't want to write more, because my comments can be sharp and hurt the feelings.
The next controversy I am expecting is, Demand for Buraka on "Bharat Mata". Again remember , India is a secular country, so am I.
Please consider this as my personal opinion under The Constitution of India. The right to freedom, given in articles 19, 20, 21 and 22.
Thank you for reading !!!
Comments
national song ‘Vande mataram’ is obsolete and those who have any objection to it
should simply not sing it.He was referring to the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind
asking Muslims not to sing the song on the grounds that some of its lines were ‘against
the religious principles of Islam’. ‘It’s a non-issue and unnecessarily provocative.
I’ve written songs with ‘Vande mataram’ in them. I used the term ‘Vande mataram’ in
Priyadarshan’s ‘Saza-e-Kala Pani’,’ told by Akhtar .‘Then I used the term for a song
in ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ and finally for a song that’s used at the military academy
at Dehradun. Please don’t make an issue out of a non-issue.’ He believes the ‘controversy
is old and obsolete. ‘Vande mataram’ is part of Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s novel ‘Anand Math’.
All the villains in this novel are Muslims. Ultimately the Muslims lose and the novelist feels
happy that the British have come to save us from these so-called ‘barbaric’ Muslims.
‘This is the song of militant sadhus in the novel. There were two stanzas of strong religiosity
in this song. When talk arose of making ‘Vande mataram’ the national anthem it was pointed out by
rational elements that the novel was anti-Muslim. ‘The Congress decided to take out the two
rabidly religious stanzas and the rest of the song was retained. The controversy ended there.
‘What is this new resistance? The objection is redundant. You don’t want to sing ‘Vande mataram’,
don’t! Who is forcing you? I sing it. I don’t see it as objectionable. If you do, don’t sing it
. Why do you insist on bringing such irrelevant matters centrestage?’ While the Jamiat passed a
resolution supporting an earlier decree against the song, it drew fierce criticism from the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which called the move ‘anti-national’.
ANONYMOUS TO ANONYMOUS
The latest chapter of a century long controversy was written last week by a resolution passed during an anti-terrorism meeting of Dar Ul Uloom Deoband which dubbed the singing of Vande Mataram as “un-Islamic”. The reason is that Hindus consider the Mother-land as a goddess and the song says: “I bow down to the Mother-land” and this is considered as an act of idolatry by certain Muslims.
But not all the Muslims think like this. The Muslim reformist, Asghar Ali Engineer said: “With each one vying to promote himself as a better Muslim, they have forgotten the Jamiat’s glorious tradition of participation in the freedom movement, of which Vande Mataram was an inseparable part. This resolution has eclipsed the very purpose of the meeting to condemn terrorism” In fact of the 15 resolutions passed by the Jamiat-e-Ulema-I-Hind at his anti-terrorism conference at Dar Ul Uloom Deoband, only one was highlighted by the media.
The singing of Vande Mataram had always been associated with the independence movement starting from 1906 when it was used as song and slogan against the partition of Bengal by the British, but in 1908 the Muslim Leage criticized it.
In 1939 Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his paper Harijan: “If at any mixed gathering any person objects to the singing of Vande Mataram, the singing should be dropped.” But the ultranationalist Hindu, like the Shiv Sena and the Sangh Parivar had made it an issue of confrontation with the Muslims. Members of the Bajrang Dal and of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested immediately against the resolution with slogans like: “If you want to live in this country you must sing Vande Mataram”.
Vande Mataram is not the official national anthem but in 1950 the then president of India Rajendra Prasad declared Jana Gana Mana as national anthem and Vande Mataram as national song.
Asghar Ali Engineer points out examples from the Muslim tradition when the Mughal emperors made courtiers bow to them as sign of respect: “So why should we not bow to our Mother-land?” The poet Allama Iqbal wrote: “Each speck of the motherland is God to me”. There is a variety of Islamic beliefs in India: “The Deobandis consider even singing salaams to Prophet Mohammed’s glory as haraam (sinful) but most Indian Muslims do not” says Engineer “The Deobandis cannot impose their Islam on all Indian Muslims”.
From time to time we read in the newspapers that students in some schools are compelled to sing Vande Materam and some parents object to it. Some years ago in cinema halls the audience was compelled to stand and listen to the national anthem, but the rule was later removed.
“Under compulsion - says Engineer - I won’t sing it to prove my patriotism. And if ordered not to sing by any fatwa, I will sing it to assert my freedom of choice”.
continue.....
Watan Ke Leay Aik Nazm..
Abb Khak-e-Watan Se Ay Logo
Hum Aao Ehed Ye Kertay Hain
Ger Waqt Para, Iss Ki Khatir
Hum Jaan Apni De Daalain Ge
Dunya Main Apni Jannat Hai
Iss Arz-e-Pak Ka Gehwaara
Allah Ko Maan-nay Walay Hum
Iss Arz-e-Pak Ke Rakhwalay
So Dushman-e-Deen Ko Samjha Do
Badd Nazar Na Iss Per Wo Dalay
Ger Uss Ne Nazr-e-Badd Daali
Tou Uss Ka Naam Mita Dain Ge
Iss Arz-e-Pak Ke Rakhwalay
(Ahmer)
This is only part one.. Second part, i will share soon..
you are right.politicians in india want media attention for their
survival for that sake they go with this kind of cheap tricks.some
self centric religious heads support this politicians for their
benifit.in kuran it is mentioned that you have to give 10% of your
income to the poor.how many such muslims are there?.how many rama's
are there who is giving ultimate respect to their parents?.vice versa
all relgions.people are identifying them selves as they belong to
some religion.rules and relgions are meant for same purpose to give
a sistamatic life.but not to ruin all.anyway this kind of things have only begining.keep going......you are
doing a good job.
-satya
I would like to write one article on some communally misrepresented issues and clarifications. Ahmer and Anonymous, please write a mail to me @ jnsuryaprakash@gmail.com.