Bankim Chandra Chatterjee calls for the rise of Indian nationalism. The novel was also the source of the song Vande Mataram (I worship my Motherland for she truly is my mother) which, set to music by Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many Indian nationalists, and is now the National Song of India. The plot of the novel is loosely set on the Sannyasi Rebellion. He imagined untrained Sannyasi soldiers fighting and beating the highly experienced British Army; ultimately however, he accepted that the British cannot be defeated. He categorically claimed that the British are not the enemy but friends; the Muslims are
I Vow to Thee, My Country are peace" (KJV), in the context of which the feminine pronoun refers to Wisdom. The original first verse of Spring-Rice's poem "Urbs Dei/The Two Father Lands" (1908–1912), never set to music, was as follows: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;"> I heard my country calling, away across the sea, Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me. Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head, And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead; I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns; I haste to thee, my mother, a son among