UNKNOWN HERITAGE OF CHINSURAH – VANDE MATARAM BHAWAN

Kaushik Ghosh

No Indian would be found who wouldn’t get goose pimples as a response after listening Indian national song ‘Vande Mataram’. Rabindra Nath Tagore sung this song for the first time in a political context in 1896 in the Calcutta session of ‘Indian National Congress’.  Thousands of freedom fighters sacrificed their lives by chanting this song.

Later this song was translated into English by Shri Aurobindo.  It is a hymn to the Mother Land. It played a vital role in the Indian independence movement. Bankim Chandra is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Independence Movement. This song was first published in the novel ‘Anandmath’ by Bankimchandra. However, very few people know the exact location, from where Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote this song. In early 1877 he was appointed by the British Government at Hooghly as a Deputy Magistrate.

There he stayed with his family in a rented a house near Joraghat, Hooghly-Chinsurah. It is believed that he spent 5 years in this house.  Some of the important literary works that were completed by him during his stay at Hoogly – Chinsurah were ‘Rajani’ (1877), ‘Rajsingha’ (1881), and ‘Krishnakanter Will’ (1878). His famous novel ‘Anandamath’ (1882) was also published during this time. So, this is that very building which is the witness of the creation of ‘Vande Mataram’ as a patriotic song. The ‘Vande Mataram Bhawan’ (the name given to this building later) noticed the meetings of Bankim Chandra with other 19th century Bengal legends like, Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, Akshay Chandra Sarkar, Haraprasad Shastri and Dinanath Dhar.  The importance of ‘Vande Mataram’ has made out in 1905 when Sister Nibedita prepared a national flag for India comprising the words ‘Vande Mataram’.  Later, the design of the national flag changed in the year 1906 and 1907 (by Madam Kama) but the words ‘Vande Mataram’ were present in intact form within the flag.

Picture: Kaushik Ghosh (TNI)
Edited By: R. Subrata (TNI Siliguri)