Motherland (Matrubhumi) – 3

Mother’s Day today, 13th May 2018. Celebrated on every 2nd Sunday of May in USA. A day dedicated to Mother’s around the world.

Mother’s Day has been celebrated in India from centuries on the Amaavasya (New Moon Day) in the month of Shravan, Hindu calendar (month of August/September of the English calendar). It is also celebrated as “Pola” here in Maharashtra (a day dedicated to Cattle as India has always been an agrarian civilisation).

So readers continuing with our blog, today an ode to our Motherland. Written by Bankimchandra Chatterjee in his novel “Anand Math” and today immortalised by Her freedom fighters, “Vande Mataram”. Written in Bengali, sharing it’s lyrics in Devanagari.
वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलाम् मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यश्यामलाम् मातरम्।
शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीम्
फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीम्
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम्
सुखदां वरदां मातरम्।। 1।।
सप्त-कोटि-कण्ठ-कल-कल-निनाद-कराले
द्विसप्त-कोटि-भुजैर्धृत-खरकरवाले,
अबला केन मा एत बोले।
बाहुबलधारिणीं नमामि तारिणीं रिपुदलवारिणीं
मातरम्।। 2।।
तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म
तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म
त्वम् हि प्राणा: शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारई प्रतिमा गडी मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे।।। 3।।
त्वम् हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी
कमला कमलदलविहारिणी
वाणी विद्यादायिनी,
नमामि त्वाम्
नमामि कमलाम्
अमलां अतुलाम्
सुजलां सुफलाम्
मातरम्।। 4।।

वन्दे मातरम्
श्यामलाम् सरलाम्
सुस्मिताम् भूषिताम्
धरणीं भरणीं
मातरम्।। 5।।

A simple yet lucid translation into English done by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh is worth a read as well :
Mother, I praise thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I praise thee. [Verse 1]
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
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.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine. [Verse 3]

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair [Verse 4]
In thy soul, with bejeweled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I praise thee,
Mother great and free! [Verse 5]

It still gets us excited when we read it again and again and again. A feeling of nostalgia and Divine.

People say that it starts with the abstract notion of the Motherland and turns to the praise of Goddess! But who will explain to them that for us Indians, we see no difference between the two. From time immemorial, this land has been our Mother. The comparison to Durga and Laxmi is nothing but a feeling that She is the one who protects us and She is the one who has so much of wealth to take give us and take care of us. People forget that Bharat has never crossed Her borders to conquer the world. Yes, She has conquered the world by Her thoughts of Vedic civilisation and Buddhism, but never their lands. People who look at their countries as mere land/s will never understand this. Their perspective of utility of anything and everything has killed the emotions within humans. Atleast people born in this land need to understand this. Under the grab of secularism, Reverence for Her cannot be and should not be undermined.

The feelings of She being everything is very well emphasised in the third verse (literally unknown to our generation as only the first two verses make the national song). This feeling of our motherland being everything, is something which one will find only in India. Some may disagree and can argue that my statement is wrong and prejudiced for others but let them answer one question. Will you be able to equate your country with the Divine? This, In Bharat, has been possible due to the efforts and lives given up for this by our seers and ancestors. And due to the thought that everything, living and non living is divine.

When one learns from modern sciences that even the living have evolved from the non living, it justifies the Bharatiya stand for reverence for the creation. We see Divine in everything. At the same time, we see Divine in each person and country. And herein lies the concept or thought or philosophy of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam”, which my readers have read in the comments to one of my earlier posts. The whole world is one family.

This is the Bharatiya civilisation.

Who built it? How did they build it? Does the feeling exist today? Is it practical? Is a question I leave to my readers to ponder over and will try to answer it in my upcoming blog/s.

Till then let us just repeat those lines above and try to inculcate a feeling of motherliness for our respective countries. In our daily run of survival let us not forget the love of our country and the care She has taken, is taking and will be taking.

Jai Bharat

Vande Mataram