Introduction of Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

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Introduction of Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was a Bengali Indian poet, novelist, essayist, and journalist. He is famous as the author of ‘Vande Mataram’, which inspired the freedom fighters of India, and was later declared the National Song of India.
Introduction of Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 1
Bankim Chandra was born on June 26, 1838 in the village, Kantalpara of the 24 Paraganas District of Bengal. He belonged to Brahmins.

Bankim Chandra’s father, Yadav Chandra Chattopadhyaya was in government service. After Bankim’s birth, he was posted to Midnapur as Deputy Collector.

Bankim had his early education in Midnapur. He was a brilliant student. After his primary education in Midnapur, Bankim joined the Mohsin College at Hoogly and studied there for six years. Apart from textbooks, he used to read other books in his leisure time. He was very much interested in the study of Sanskrit. His study of Sanskrit stood him in good stead. Later, when he wrote books in Bengali, his knowledge of Sanskrit helped him immensely.

In 1856, Bankim joined the Presidency College in Kolkata. In 1857, there was a strong revolt against the rule of East India Company but he continued his studies and passed his BA examination in 1858. The Lieutenant Governor of Kolkata, appointed him as Deputy Collector in tht same year. Bankim was in Government service for thirty-two years and retired in 1891. He was a very conscientious worker.

Bankim was married when he was only eleven. At that time, his wife was only five years old. He was only twenty two when his wife died. After some time, he married again. His second wife was Rajlakshmi Devi. They had three daughters but no son.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee began his literary career as a writer of verse. He then turned to fiction. Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali romance, was published in 1865. His famous novels include Kapalkundala (1866), Mrinalini (1869), Vishbriksha (1873), Chandrasekhar (1877), Rajani (1877), Rajsimha (1881), and Devi Chaudhurani (1884). His most famous novel was Anandamath (1882). It contained the song “Vande Mataram”, the national song of India.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wanted to bring about a cultural revival of Bengal by stimulating the intellect of the Bengali speaking people through literary campaign. With this end in view, he brought out a monthly magazine called Banga Darshan in 1872.

He was a superb story-teller, and a master of romance. No Bengali writer before or since has enjoyed such spontaneous and universal popularity as Chatterjee. His novels have been translated in almost all the major languages of India. The British government honoured him with the title, “Roy Bahadur” in 1892. He became a Companion, Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1894.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee passed away on April 8,1894, at the age of 61. People consider Chatterjee as the best novelist in Bangla literature. They believe that few writers in world literature have excelled in both philosophy and art as Bankim has done.