Vande Mataram
“Vande Mataram”
For the benefit of those who are not aware, let me say that “Vande Mataram” is the first line of a patriotic song written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and incorporated in his novel “Ananda Math”. The music was composed by Rabindra Nath Tagore.
This song (only the first paragraph) was officially declared by the Government of India as the National Song.
Recently a controversy has been doing rounds in India because some political organizations declared that this song must compulsorily be sung by the school children on October 7, 2006 in remembrance of 100 years of its composition.
The main point of the debate has been on the meaning of the song. It literally means “Mother, I sing in thy praise” or “Mother, I salute thee”; the “Mother” here meaning the motherland. Many Muslim clerics (religious leaders) have objected to singing of this song by Muslims. Their argument is that according to Koran, no Muslim should bow to anything or anybody other than Allah.
Those who do not agree with the Muslim religious leaders say that “Vande” actually means “sing in praise” or “salute” and does not mean “bowing” as is done at the time Namaz. In fact Muslims do salute the respected ones like, say, the king; the salute here is called “kurnish”. There are other forms of salute like salam walekum or adab which is freely exchanged between equals. So saluting is no big deal among Muslims. So, why this objection to saluting the Motherland? It is definitely not against Islam.
But the Muslim mollahs (religious leaders) remained adamant, and on that day many Muslim children were absent from school to avoid trouble; and in many Muslim schools Vande Mataram was not sung.
There are two sides to this controversy. One is that such an order making it compulsory for the children to sing a particular song is itself unjustified, even ridiculous, I should say. So, the school children should be free to choose whether they sing the song or don’t.
But the second is more important. It is that there is a general feeing in India that the Muslims in India have not fully identified with their being Indians. Some Muslims still feel that Pakistan is there rightful place. So, they naturally have difficulty in totally identifying themselves as Indians. This incident of refusing to sing Vande Mataram and instructing all Muslims to refrain from singing this song because it is anti-Islam has deepened the feeling that the Muslims in India consider themselves to be Muslims first and Muslims last, and not Indians. This is not good for the so-called ‘integration of Muslims’ into the Indian psyche. The expression “integration” itself is a misnomer, because an Indian Muslim is an Indian; and there is no question of their “integrating” with India. Probably, “integration” here means ‘psychological integration’. In any event, this is bad for India as a nation.
For the benefit of those who are not aware, let me say that “Vande Mataram” is the first line of a patriotic song written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and incorporated in his novel “Ananda Math”. The music was composed by Rabindra Nath Tagore.
This song (only the first paragraph) was officially declared by the Government of India as the National Song.
Recently a controversy has been doing rounds in India because some political organizations declared that this song must compulsorily be sung by the school children on October 7, 2006 in remembrance of 100 years of its composition.
The main point of the debate has been on the meaning of the song. It literally means “Mother, I sing in thy praise” or “Mother, I salute thee”; the “Mother” here meaning the motherland. Many Muslim clerics (religious leaders) have objected to singing of this song by Muslims. Their argument is that according to Koran, no Muslim should bow to anything or anybody other than Allah.
Those who do not agree with the Muslim religious leaders say that “Vande” actually means “sing in praise” or “salute” and does not mean “bowing” as is done at the time Namaz. In fact Muslims do salute the respected ones like, say, the king; the salute here is called “kurnish”. There are other forms of salute like salam walekum or adab which is freely exchanged between equals. So saluting is no big deal among Muslims. So, why this objection to saluting the Motherland? It is definitely not against Islam.
But the Muslim mollahs (religious leaders) remained adamant, and on that day many Muslim children were absent from school to avoid trouble; and in many Muslim schools Vande Mataram was not sung.
There are two sides to this controversy. One is that such an order making it compulsory for the children to sing a particular song is itself unjustified, even ridiculous, I should say. So, the school children should be free to choose whether they sing the song or don’t.
But the second is more important. It is that there is a general feeing in India that the Muslims in India have not fully identified with their being Indians. Some Muslims still feel that Pakistan is there rightful place. So, they naturally have difficulty in totally identifying themselves as Indians. This incident of refusing to sing Vande Mataram and instructing all Muslims to refrain from singing this song because it is anti-Islam has deepened the feeling that the Muslims in India consider themselves to be Muslims first and Muslims last, and not Indians. This is not good for the so-called ‘integration of Muslims’ into the Indian psyche. The expression “integration” itself is a misnomer, because an Indian Muslim is an Indian; and there is no question of their “integrating” with India. Probably, “integration” here means ‘psychological integration’. In any event, this is bad for India as a nation.
posted by SENsible at 8:13 pm
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