Vande Mataram
The National Song of India

“Vande maataraM Vande maataraM
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM
SasyashyaamalaaM maataram

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM
pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Koti koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaalekoti koti bhujai.
rdhR^itakharakaravaaleabalaa keno maa eto
balebahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiMripudalavaariNiiM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Tumi vidyaa tumi dharmatumi
hR^idi tumi marmatvaM hi praaNaaH shariireBaahute
tumi maa shaktihR^idaye tumi maa bhaktitomaara i pratimaa gaDimandire mandire

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

TvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNiikamalaa kamaladala
vihaariNiivaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM
Namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM
SujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

ShyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM
DharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM
Vande maataraM Vande maataraM ”

Translation by Shree Aurobindo

Mother, I bow to 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 easeLaughing low and sweet!

Mother I kiss thy feet,Speaker sweet and low!Mother, to thee I bow. Who hath said thou art weak in thy landsWhen the sword flesh out in the 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! Though who savest, arise and save!To her I cry who ever her foeman droveBack from plain and SeaAnd shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,Thou art heart, our soul, our breathThough art love divine, the aweIn our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nervs the arm,Thine the beauty, thine the charm. Every image made divineIn our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,With her hands that strike and herswords 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-fairIn thy soul, with jewelled hair And thy glorious smile divine, Lovilest of all earthly lands, Showering wealth from well-stored hands!

Mother, mother mine! Mother sweet, I bow to thee,Mother great and free! BHARATMA…

Vande Mataram Bankin Chandra composed the song Vande Mataram in an inspired moment, Rabindranath sang it by setting a glorious tune to it and it was left to the genius of Shri Aurobindo to interpret the deeper meaning of the song out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism.

The English translation of Vande Mataram rendered by Shree Aurobindo, is considered as official and best as per the book, Vande Mataram by Moni Bagchee