Independence Day 2026: Vande Mataram Song Full Lyrics With Meaning
Written originally in 1882 in the Bengali novel Ananthmath, the song written as an ode to Mother India is set to echo from the walls of the Red Fort, for the first time in all six stanzas
Vande Mataram, India’s national song is going to be sung in full for the first time at the Red Fort tomorrow, marking the 150th Anniversary of the song being written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Criminalised to sing by the Britishers, Vande Mataram was one of the most popular songs of protest during the Indian independence movement.
India’s national Vande Mataram has been sung in two stanzas since 1937, according to the recommendations by Rabindra Nath Tagore and Subhash Chandra Bose.
Written originally in 1882 in the Bengali novel Ananthamath, the song written as an ode to Mother India is set to echo from the walls of the Red Fort, for the first time in all six stanzas.
As India celebrates its 80 independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his 13th consecutive Independence Day speech at the iconic Red Fort of Delhi, which was the main residence of the Mughal emperors.
Here is the full version of the National Song:
Vande Mataram!
Sujalām suphalām malayaja-śītalām,
Śasya-śyāmalām Mātaram!
Vande Mataram!
Śubhra-jyotsnām pulakita-yāminīm,
Phulla-kusumita druma-dala-śobhinim,
Suhāsinīm sumadhura bhāşinim,
Sukhadām varadām Mātaram!
Vande Mataram!
Koți-koţi kaņțha kalakala nināda karāle,
Koți-koți bhujair dhrta kharakaravāle,
Ke bole Mā tumi abale!
Bahubaladhāriņīm namāmi tāriņīm,
Ripudala-vāriņīm Mātaram!
Vande Mataram!
Tumi vidyā, tumi dharma,
Tumi hrdi, tumi marma,
Tvam hi prāņāḥ śarīre!
Bāhute tumi Mā śakti,
Hrdaye tumi Mā bhakti,
Tomārai pratima gadi mandire-mandire.
Vande Mataram!
Tvam hi Durgā daśa-praharaņa-dhāriņī,
Kamalā kamala-dala-vihāriņī,
Vāņī vidyā-dāyinī,
Namāmi tvām namāmi kamalām,
Amalām atulām,
Sujalām suphalām Mātaram!
Vande Mataram!
Śyāmalām saralām susmitām bhūşitām,
Dharaņim bharaņīm Mātaram!
Vande Mataram!
English Translation:
Mother,I praise thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with the 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 seventy million hands,
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and strong,
To thee I call, Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foemen drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free.
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 divine.
In our temples is but thine.
Thou art Goddess Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Goddess Kamala (Lakshmi), lotus-throned,
And Goddess Vani (Saraswati), bestower of wisdom known
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!