Vande Mataram (album) the country. A critical and commercial hit, the title song from the album is one of India's most popular songs of all time. Sung by Rahman himself, the song has come to represent a feeling of patriotic unity for India and has been performed or played at several national and regional events in the country. The popularity of the song was such that in 2002, when BBC World Service conducted an international poll to choose the ten most famous songs of all time from around 7000 songs selected from all over the world, "Maa Tujhe Salaam" was voted second. The
Vande Mataram When the swords flash out in 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! Thou who savest, arise and save! To her I cry who ever her foeman drove Back from plain and Sea And shook herself free. [Verse 2] Thou art wisdom, thou art law, Thou art heart, our soul, our breath Thou art love divine, the awe In our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nerves the arm, Thine the beauty, thine the charm.