Vande Mataram Vande Mataram Bande Mataram (IAST: ) (English Translation: "Mother, I bow to thee") is a Bengali poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1870s, which he included in his 1881 novel "Anandamath". The poem was composed into song by Rabindranath Tagore. The first two verses of the song were adopted as the National Song of India in October 1937 by the Congress Working Committee prior to the end of colonial rule in August 1947. An ode to the Mother goddess, it was written in Bengali script in the novel "Anandmath". The title 'Bande Mataram' means "I praise thee, Mother" or
Vande Mataram of Calcutta, would work themselves up into a patriotic fervour by shouting the slogan "Vande Mataram", or "I praise the Mother(land)!" The British, fearful of the potential danger of an incited Indian populace, banned the book and made the recital of the song a crime. The British colonial government imprisoned many independence activists for disobeying the order, but workers and general public repeatedly violated the ban many times by gathering together before British officials and singing it. Rabindranath Tagore sang "Vande Mataram" in 1896 at the Calcutta Congress Session held at Beadon Square. Dakhina Charan Sen sang it five years