Story Behind the National Song

Every country in this world has identical marks regarding its national selections. There are different national flowers, animals, birds, trees, and other things. This selection leads to the cultural sectors as well. Every country has its national song as well. Though based on the constitution, India has its national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, which has been accepted for showcasing on the world platform. But India has a different national song as well. It is right that you might think both are the same, but that is not.

National Song

National songs are those songs that play for a country and in a country at every proud moment. In fact, not only at proud moments but can be played at every place where there is a crowd. 

But in India, there is a difference. The accepted one for India to be played at those points is the National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, written by the world-famous Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Despite having a national anthem, there is a national song of India. Yes, both are different. Although the national song of India has no constitutional basis, that does not mean that there is no provision in the constitution that defines a song as the national song of India. This has been taken care of by all the people of India and the heads of the country. And it is really necessary to show equal respect to our national song like the National Anthem.

National Song of India

The national song of India is Vande Mataram. These are two Sanskrit words that describe the praise for the motherland. In the different verses of the song, the poet describes the motherland’s beauty and denotes the motherland as the Mother Goddess. Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote this national song.

He was a civil servant when he wrote this song. He used to live in a place known as Naihati in Nadia, West Bengal and wrote this poem on the opposite bank of the river Ganga. That place is known as Chinsurah or Chuchura, Hooghly, West Bengal.

Background and history of the national song

The famine of Bengal of ’76, or the Bengali year 1176, was the song’s background. In the year 1870, that famine was there in India. At that time, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a member of a revolutionary group known as Santan Dal, led by the revolutionary Sadananda. At that time, Vande Mataram was written by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

At that time, the colonial government of India was trying to bring a verse in front known as “God save the Queen”. They proposed this as the national anthem of India. But the nationalists didn’t like that at all. At that, HE wrote the song or the poem in a mixed language of Bengali and Sanskrit.

Later on, in the novel, Anandamath Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay included this song. That was the year 1882. For the first time in 1896, Rabindra Nath Tagore sang this poem. It was the session of the Indian National Congress of 1896.

The Indian national flag proposed in 1907 has the words Vande Mataram in the middle of the flag.

After that, In the year 1937 and in the congress session of October, the working committee of the Indian National Congress adopted the first two verses of the song as the National song of India. Mahatma Gandhi himself supported this to be the National song of India. Also, in 1950 Jadunath Bhattacharya composed the music for this song. Since then, this song has been accepted as the National Song of India.

Revolutionary Movement and the National Song

The national song of India, Vande Mataram, has had a great impact on India’s revolutionary or nationalist movements. This song, and especially these two words, were the most lovable words for those who were directly or indirectly attached to the revolutionary movement of India. Mahatma Gandhi also said that Jai hind Should not replace Vande Mataram in 1946, as this has been sung in the National Congress since Inception.

Conclusion

In India, the National song and the national anthem are different, and the National song doesn’t have any recognition of the constitution, whereas the anthem has. But the National Song was adopted a long ago as the national song of India and the Jana Gana Mana as the national anthem. And as everyone says, it is not that important to have everything a proper recognition on paper. Some recognition comes directly from the bottom of the heart.