Page 60 - Mann Ki Baat - English

imposed bans on its public Thou art wisdom, thou art
singing. law, Thou art heart, our soul, our
Bankim Chandra breath Thou art love divine, the
Chattopadhyay incorporated awe
his song Vande Mataram into
In our hearts that conquers
his novel Anandamath. In doing
death. Thine the strength that
so, he added several more lines
nerves the arm, Thine the
to the original 12-line poem. The
beauty, thine the charm.
first two stanzas of the original
Every image made divine In
song remained untouched for
many years. Later, to convey the our temples is but thine.
complex sentiment of his novel, (Translation by Sri
he added sections that became Aurobindo)
the subject of controversy. The In the above excerpt of
British labelled it as ‘idolatry’ the poem, Bangla has been
and opposed it, while many
beautifully blended with Sanskrit.
others opposing ‘idol worship’,
In the novel Anandamath, the
objected unnecessarily. It
protagonist sings this passage.
was thus, misrepresented as
Leaving aside the latter half
communal, turning a unique
of the poem, the former half
literary creation into the
questions the idea of considering
target of conspiracy, though it
could not be suppressed. The Mother, the Motherland as weak.
additional lines added by the After the first eight Sanskrit lines,
poet were- Bankim chandra writes-

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