लता का वन्दे मातरम्: एक राष्ट्र को उसकी आवाज़ मिली

In 1882, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande Mataram. In 1905 it became the rallying song of the independence movement. In 1950 it became India's national song. But in 1952, in the film Anand Math, Lata Mangeshkar sang it — and that became the version history remembers.

Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande Mataram in 1875-76 and included it in his 1882 Bengali novel Anandamath. After the 1905 partition of Bengal, the poem echoed through independence rallies — sung at Congress sessions, hummed by freedom fighters going to prison. In 1950, India made it the national song alongside Jan Gan Man. This poem needed a melody that would endure across generations. In 1952, Hemant Kumar created that melody and Lata Mangeshkar sang it.

Hemant Kumar was a trained Hindustani classical vocalist — evident in his arrangement. He chose Raag Bihag — a beautiful, serene raag associated with evening spiritual joy. Bihag's characteristic notes — including a particular sharp Madhyam — express the quiet reverence Bankimchandra's poetry demands. Neither as heavy as Darbari nor as valedictory as Bhairavi — a raag that could hold both devotion and joy. Hemant Kumar set it in Teentaal (16 beats) with the sitar as lead instrument — its pure, resonant timbre bringing Bankimchandra's lush poetic images to life.

When Anand Math (1952) released and Vande Mataram played on screen in Lata's voice for the first time, audiences in many cinemas reportedly stood up. Five years after Independence, the fervour of 1947 was fresh, and this song was its purest musical expression. UNESCO included it among the ten best songs of the 20th century in 1974. When AR Rahman created his 1997 jubilee version, he deliberately dialogued with Lata's 1952 arrangement — a tribute and a reinterpretation. Today, in schools, government offices, on national occasions, the song still plays in Lata's voice.