Vande Mataram at 150: A song that became a nation’s voice

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OPINION

By H.E. Upender Singh Rawat

Indian is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Indian's national song: Vande Mataram. High Commissioner of India to Uganda Upender Singh Rawat writes a message about these celebrations below:

Vande Mataram at 150: A song that became a nation’s voice

The opening lines of Vande Mataram are believed to have been penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay on Akshaya Navami — 7 November 1875 — and first appeared serialised in the literary journal Bangadarshan as part of his novel Anandamath (later published as a book in 1882). The poem’s invocation — “I bow to thee, Mother” — fused devotional bhakti with patriotic fervour, personifying the land, rivers and harvest as a nurturing, sacred Mother. Composed during a period of rising national consciousness and resistance to colonial rule, Vande Mataram gave poetic voice to India’s awakening spirit of unity and self-respect and soon became an enduring symbol of devotion to the nation.

First sung publicly by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress, Vande Mataram quickly became the anthem of India’s national awakening, carried by freedom fighters from the Swadeshi movement of 1905 to the Azad Hind proclamation and international displays of the tricolour. The song’s opening stanzas — lush images of wind, water and orchard — capture an ecological and cultural vision: a civilisation in harmonious relationship with the earth.

Over time, India reinterpreted the poem to balance its spiritual essence with a more inclusive message; consequently, the first two stanzas emerged as the standard public recitation. On 24 January 1950, while announcing the adoption of the Constitution, Dr Rajendra Prasad recognised Vande Mataram’s historic role and placed it on equal footing with the national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

The completion of 150 years in 2025 is being marked nationwide and abroad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his October Mann Ki Baat address — a monthly radio programme in which the Prime Minister speaks directly to citizens about public initiatives and national themes — called for wide participation to “honour India’s spiritual, linguistic and cultural unity.”

Planned activities span mass singing, a national inauguration in Delhi with commemorative stamp and coin releases, exhibitions, short films, school programmes, research fellowships, audio-visual booths for citizens to record personal renditions, and tree-planting drives under the theme “Salute to Mother Earth.” India’s diplomatic missions will host mass singing of the song, and cultural evenings, inviting local communities to join — an outreach that frames Vande Mataram not as an inward symbol but as a platform for cultural dialogue.

For readers in Uganda, the resonance is immediate. Uganda’s communal songs — sung in churches, at independence rallies, and in village gatherings — have similarly shaped identity and mobilised civic life. Environmental gestures linked to the commemoration, such as mangrove revival and lake cleanups highlighted in India’s civic initiatives, mirror Ugandan efforts to protect wetlands and restore urban green spaces around Kampala and along the Nile. These shared practices show how music and community action can bind people to place and purpose.

Vande Mataram’s longevity rests on two qualities: poetic universality and adaptability. It blends reverence for the land with a call to collective action, and for over 150 years it has moved from a sentence in a novel to a living civic practice sung in schools, Parliament and public ceremonies, and reimagined by young artists and digital communities. As India marks this milestone, the song offers a simple lesson for all nations: when artistic expression is rooted in shared memory and made inclusive, it can both remember history and help build the future.

Vande Mataram at 150 is therefore more than commemoration. It is an invitation — to listen, sing and plant — a salutation to the idea that nationhood can be nurtured through culture, community and care for the earth.

The writer is the High Commissioner of India to Uganda