"mukto-mona Yahoogroups" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 11:14 PM
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 11:14 PM
From its inception during the Independence Movement, Bande Mataram controversy was artificially canned by shrewd manipulators of communal politics posing as village idiots pitifully needing protection of their "religious sentiments." The recent re-visiting of the controversy was unnecessary and a publicity stunt by the Deoband Maulanas.
Some quick facts:
The text is completely secular (with no ref. to the Vedas, Upanishads or the Geeta)
It was composed before the writing of the novel, Anandamath
The novel is mis-characterized as anti-Muslim or against Muslim rule of Bengal, and a recent English translation confirms that there is no full-blown communalism in the text
The song was written for Mother Bengal and addressed to her 'saat koti' children, half of whom were Muslims. In a sly bit of editing, 'saat koti' was changed to 'koti koti' thereby not only decoupling it from Bengal, but also distorting the song's homage to Mother Bengal and turning it into a divine Durga. By then Bankim was long dead, and had nothing to do with this doctoring of his song's text.
[So Kamal Das lying about 'tyrannical Muslim rule' whose reference he got from the American historian Will Durant, the popular "Readers' Digest"-y type of writer in the 1950s whom no one reads seriously any more, is a bit farcical and part of the ongoing communal bs about the innocent song].
[So Kamal Das lying about 'tyrannical Muslim rule' whose reference he got from the American historian Will Durant, the popular "Readers' Digest"-y type of writer in the 1950s whom no one reads seriously any more, is a bit farcical and part of the ongoing communal bs about the innocent song].
Like the popular American sports news-broadcaster bellows on camera: "Let's go to the videotape!" I would like to roll the 'tape' of the time of production of the text of Bande Mataram.
At around the timing of the composition of the song, it would be more than a couple of decades since the British had dropped all mercantile pretensions and gobbled up India as a part of its Empire. The not-too-distant memory of the bitter battles fought and lost in 1857 is still smarting in many a heart. Bengal, whose plentiful wealth had been systematically robbed to enrich the British Treasury for more than a hundred years now, is the seat of governance of this foreign imperial power over whole India. Calcutta, a flourishing metropolis, was turning out an educated urban middle class whose intellectual and cultural accomplishments far surpassed the expectations of Mill-Macaulay & Co. who wanted nothing more than mediocre servicemen of the Empire by their Indian education policies. Bankim was the first graduate of the newly established Calcutta University after trudging through an incredibly cumbersome and tough syllabus.
Exposure to English language and literature acted as an enabler in the rapid development of Bengali as a modern language. There was a new awakening of love and pride for motherland and mother language, and nostalgia for the freedom that used to belong to the people in the pre-colonial era. Bengal had traded with foreigners for centuries, and even endured Company rule since the fall of Sirajuddowla in 1757. Heavy taxation and privatization of community land caused unprecedented famine (1770) that devastated the population. Even so, the effect of outright colonization took some time to sink in. Bankim lamented in one of his essays: "Nowadays we hear a lot about Administrator and all sorts of rules and regulations. In this land in the olden times you could call a bunyan tree an 'administrator' (shasonkarta)". By which Bankim is stating unambiguously that we Bangalis were a free, self-governed nation under the Muslim Kings before the British came and took away our freedom.
Bankim's Bande Mataram was the most powerful, but many of his contemporary poets and composers, both Hindus and Muslims, wrote paeans for Mother Bangla (the word 'bangla' denoting both the land and the language). Two generations after Bankim, my grandfather, the poet Golam Mostafa composed his song showing clear influence of both Bankim and Iqbal's 'Sare jahan se': "Shakol desher chaite shera moder Bangladesh, sujala sufala shasya-shyamola snigdho shitalabesh." Kazi Nazrul Islam, one of the greatest Bengali poets, my nana's friend, wrote: "Namo namo namo Bangladesh momo, chiromonoramo, chiro madhur." Unfortunately the village idiots of Bangladesh today do not sing Nazrul's song because it has 'namo namo namo' as invocation that is considered a bit too Hindu-like. Invocations are common parlance, and any speaker of that language should be free to use them regardless of the religious identity of that person. Imagine Hindi/Urdu-speaking Hindus not singing A. R. Rahman's "Ma, tujhe salaam" because 'salaam' sounds Muslim-like!
[Will be continued with more facts and findings .. .. .. ]
Farida Majid
From: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:16:10 +0600
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Bande Mataram includes Muslims as part of Bangla Ma's Sontan (Children of Mother Bangla)
East India Company was displaced by British Government as a consequence of 1857 right away.
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 29, 2015, at 8:04 PM, Subimal Chakrabarty subimal@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
The time period in the novel was the transition period in the history of Bengal. 1757 had already happened. The a East India Company was in the process of taking over. The administration was practically in the hands of a Muslim and a Hindu who jointly ran the local administration. Corruption was rampant. That is the time when the infamous Chhiattorer monwontor eclipsed Bengal. Rebels came from among the common masses.
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On Jun 28, 2015, at 10:25 PM, Kamal Das kamalctgu@gmail.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Bande Mataram, the slogan, was used against the British. Muslim rulers became history when it was written. Common Muslims hadn't become a significant political force in Bengal. The novel in which the song became a part ends with solace that Muslim tyranny had ended and just rule by the British had come.War cry or patriotic fervor? Isn't patriotism just another religion? As Dr. Johnson said, it is the last refuge of scoundrels.
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On Jun 28, 2015, at 7:57 PM, Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:War cry or patriotic fervor; but was it against the Muslims or against the British? I knew that many Muslims did not like the song because it had a distinct Hindu flavor. But I never heard of it being used against the Muslims during a riot.On Saturday, June 27, 2015 8:47 PM, "Kamal Das kamalctgu@gmail.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Bande Mataram was indeed the war cry, like Joy Bangla, during the Swadeshi Movement, but only in Bengal not elsewhere in India.On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 10:36 PM, Jiten Roy jnrsr53@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Ali Saheen's comments appear to be childish to me. It seems like she is just arguing without substance. She needs linguistic abilities and some research about the pretexts of the song, as Farida Majid mentioned, to understand Bande Mataram. Without which, it will be misunderstood, as many people do.Anyway, this is what I found about Bande Mataram:_____________________________________This is the summary of a lecture delivered by Sri Aurobindoin the Grand Square of the National School, Amraoti, Berar, on January 29, 1908. The meeting commenced with the singing of Bande Mataram
translation by Sri Aurobindo (November 20, 1909)Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy 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,
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother, I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,
When the swords flash out in twice seventy million hands
And seventy millions 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 foemen drave
Back from plain and sea
And shook herself free.
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou our heart, our soul, our breath,
Thou the 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.Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother, lend thine ear.
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Dark of hue, O candid-fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free.Sri Aurobindo said that he was exceedingly pleased to know that the song had become so popular in all parts of India and that it was being so repeatedly sung. He said that he would make this national anthem the subject of his speech.The song, he said, was not only a national anthem to be looked on as the European nations look upon their own, but one replete with mighty power, being a sacred mantra, revealed to us by the author of "Ananda Math", who might be called an inspired Rishi. He described the manner in which the mantra had been revealed to Bankim Chandra, probably by a Sannyasi under whose teaching he was. He said that the mantra was not an invention, but a revivification of the old mantra which had become extinct, so to speak, by the treachery of one Navakishan. The mantra of Bankim Chandra was not appreciated in his own day, and he predicted that there would come a time when the whole of India would resound with the singing of the song, and the word of the prophet was miraculously fulfilled.The meaning of the song was not understood then because there was no patriotism except such as consisted in making India the shadow of England and other countries which dazzled the sight of the sons of this our Motherland with their glory and opulence. The so-called patriots of that time might have been the well-wishers of India but not men who loved her. One who loved his mother never looked to her defects, never disregarded her as an ignorant, superstitious, degraded and decrepit woman.The speaker then unfolded the meaning of the song. As with the individual, so with the nation, there were three bodies or koshas, the sth's'a and k'na shariras. In this way the speaker went on clearing up the hidden meaning of the song. The manner in which he treated of love and devotion was exceedingly touching and the audience sat before him like dumb statues, not knowing where they were or whether they were listening to a prophet revealing to them the higher mysteries of life.He then concluded with a most pathetic appeal to true patriotism and exhorted the audience to love the Motherland and sacrifice everything to bring about her salvation.First published in "Bande Mataram", January 29, 1908
From: "Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2015 8:54 AM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Bande Mataram includes Muslims as part of Bangla Ma's Sontan (Children of Mother Bangla)
Bande Mataram includes Muslims as part of Bangla Ma's Sontan (Children of Mother Bangla) - so says Farida Majid in a post June 26, 2015, in the Mukto-Mona forum. Let me quote her, "I had posted a long, well-researched, linguistically analyzed article on Bankim's Bande Mataram, supporting the claim that the text of the song had nothing against Muslims, and in fact INCLUDES Muslims (as arithmetical half) as part of Bangla Ma's 'sontan'."She also complained that Dr. Kamal Das, Dr. Jiten Roy and I did not remember her article. Let me say sorry to her for not remembering her article; I am actually not very good at remembering anything.However, let me advise her that the three gentlemen's name she mentioned know that Bande Mataram is not a hate-song against the Muslims. I personally would not propose it in its entirety to be the national anthem of a pluralistic India. For that purpose, I would expunge the fourth and fifth stanzas, where Hindu deities and temples are invoked. As I wrote before, I can understand that many Muslims would not like this song as the national anthem; but this song certainly was not used for actually hating or hurting the Muslims.The point is not really if the above three persons remember Ms. Majid's article. Ms. Majid needs to educate people like Ali Shaheen and the worse creatures in the forums and elsewhere.BTW: Ms. Majid also did not like my statement that "she masquerades as a rational human being, but in reality her mind is subservient to the prescriptions of her religion, which obviously she cannot hide. I feel pity for her kind of people who, in spite of a good deal of academic accomplishment in humanities/sciences, remain captive to the stupidity and hatred of their religions."Let me challenge Ms. Majid to prove me wrong. Ms. Majid, could you cite some verses in the Quran that should be actually discarded/disregarded? You need to tell the Muslims unequivocally, "these verses in the Quran are wrong; do not follow them."Again, let me be clear that irrespective of what verses of the Quran are wrong and need to be discarded/disregarded, I wish nothing but the best for the Muslims. (That obviously means that I want them to live in an environment where they and the non-Muslims would treat each other with justice, dignity, human rights, citizenship rights, etc. - all the good things that all humans wish for themselves).Sukhamaya Bain====================
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Posted by: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
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