History of Kolkata Chandra Pal]]. The early nationalists were inspired by [[Swami Vivekananda]], the foremost disciple of the [[Hindu]] mystic Sri [[Ramakrishna]] and helped by [[Sister Nivedita]], disciple of the former. The rousing cry that awakened India's soul was penned by [[Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay]]. Now the national song of the nation, it is an ode to the land of [[Names of India#Bharat|Bharat]] (India) as the Divine Mother, "[[Vande Mataram]]." The Elgin Road residence of [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] in Calcutta was the place from where he escaped the British to reach Germany during the [[World War II|Second World War]]. He was the co-founder of
Vande Mataram unlike later verses that compare certain qualities of thee country and mother to goddesses like Durga and Lakshmi. 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]. The root of the Sanskrit word Vande is "Vand", which appears in "Rigveda" and other Vedic texts. According to Monier Monier-Williams, depending on the context, "vand" means "to praise, celebrate, laud, extol, to show honour, do homage, salute respectfully", or "deferentially, venerate, worship, adore", or "to offer anything respectfully to". The word "Mātaram" has Indo-European roots in