Kevadia (Gujarat), Oct 30 A fifth-generation descendant of renowned Bengali writer and poet Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Santanu Chatterjee, on Friday welcomed the government’s decision to make the recitation of all six stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ compulsory, while suggesting that textual modifications made to the song over the years to reflect modern population figures should be avoided.
Chatterjee was invited along with his wife and cousin at the Rashtriya Ekta Parv festivities, where a play based on Bankim Chandra’s ‘Anandamath’ was performed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the National School of Drama.
Speaking to PTI after the event, Chatterjee expressed delight over the policy shift from the previously mandated two stanzas to the complete six-stanza rendition of Vande Mataram, but raised concerns regarding alterations made over the years to the national song’s numerical references to match contemporary demographics.
“We are very happy that the government has made it compulsory to sing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram,” Chatterjee told PTI.
“There is one thing, though… When the song was written, the population (of Bengal) was seven crore, so he wrote ‘saptakoti kantha’ and ‘dvisaptakoti bhujah’ – seven crore throats and 14 crore arms – but it was changed to ‘koti koti’ because of the population growth later,” he said.
“My suggestion to whoever has done it is that it is not right to make such changes to the work of people of such calibre. Everyone knows that population grows…,” he said.
It is believed that ‘saptakoti kantha’ was changed to ‘koti koti’ (crores and crores) in later years as the population of Bengal grew to broaden the song’s implied population representation.
The official version now released by the government retains the substitution ‘koti koti’.
Chatterjee, however, emphasised that historical creations must be viewed through the lens of their original context and creative intent, arguing that altering foundational texts diminishes their authenticity.
“We have to understand the thought process behind a creation. Bankim Chandra had written six stanzas in Bengali and Sanskrit. What was the thought process behind it? He must have put a lot of thought into creating it (Vande Mataram). Who are we to make changes?” he asked.
Drawing a parallel with other cultural touchstones, Chatterjee noted that institutional safeguards are typically enforced to protect literary heritage.
“If some tweaking is done to a creation of Rabindranath Tagore, Visva Bharati will immediately object to it. There is one word in ‘Jana Gana Mana’ which does not suit, but it is still going on. So, in my view, the work of people of that calibre should remain untouched,” he added.
(PTI News)
