Vande Mataram, the sacred mantra of patriotism, of which Rishi Bankim Chandra is the seer, brought under its spell many young men and women whom it converted into prophets of nationalism and fierce patriots who offered everything at the altar of the Mother. “If Bankim was the seer of the national mantra, Sri Aurobindo was the God-appointed high-priest and prophet,” says Sisir Kumar Mitra. In the words of Sister Nivedita, “Aurobindo came out with a new interpretation of Bankim Chandra’s song, ‘Bande Mataram’, which now leaped out of its comparative obscurity within the covers of a Bengali novel and in one sweep found itself on the lips of every Indian man, woman or child.” His superb contribution is his masterly rendering of Vande Mataram into English verse. Sister Nivedita, the embodiment of the ideal of spiritual-nationalism propounded by Swami Vivekananda, dedicated herself body and soul, for the cause of Motherland and she even resigned from the Ramakrishna Order to enable herself to plunge completely into the national movement. It was Sister Nivedita who requested Sri Aurobindo to shift the centre of his activities from Baroda to Bengal in order to carry out his Bhavani Mandir scheme. Another fierce patriot and prophet who came under the spell of ‘Vande Mataram’ was Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya who remained a sannyasi throughout his life. He insisted that a man from every house should dedicate himself to the nation’s work, like the sannyasins of Ananda Math, and that every father should offer a son for the service of the Motherland.
