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        A public meeting was organized yesterday evening (10 September 2006) by the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs in Royapettah, Chennai to commemorate the centenary of the singing of the Vande Mataram song at a Special Session of the Indian National Congress at Benaras on 7 September 1905. I had the privilege of addressing this meeting.

        Immediately after the meeting, my esteemed friend Dr Parthasarathy, son of Shri Shri Acharya (Mandayam Srinivasachariar), gave me a book titled Bandemataram Album published in Cawnpore (Kanpur) in 1923 by Shiva Narayan Mishra Vaidya of Prakash Pustakalaya. This extremely rare and out of print book contains the full English Translation of Bandemataram song by Aurobindo Ghosh. This book also contains rare and beautiful paintings by K Tejendra Kumar Mitra illustrating some of the gloriously symbolic Sanskrit words in the Vande Mataram song. NEWS TODAY views it as a great privilege to present some of the pages from this rare book with the text and the paintings on the immortal Vande Mataram song.
 

Bande Mataram Hail mother, I bow to thee!

Cover page of the book 1923. Trimsha-koti-Kantha-kalkal-Nanad-karale, Dwitrimsha-koti-Bhujairdhrit-Kharakarabale. Thy cause championed thy thirty crores of soul, Twice thirty crores of arms to defend thee!

Sujalam Nature supplies thee with all thy wants,  With Sweet Water.

Shyamalam Saralam Susmitam Bhushitam Dharaneem Bharaneem Mataram. Ever happy and ever simple, Ever bright and ever beatiful, Thou our support, our nourishment, I bow to thee!

Phulla-kusumita-drumdala-shobhineem, Bedecked Thou are in flowery plants.

This is the front cover page of a nationalistic journal called ‘Vijaya’ which was shifted from Chennai to Pondicherry in 1909. This cover page appeared in the August 1909 Issue of this Journal.

        Mandayam Srinivasachariar and his brother S Thirumalachariar were pillars of support to Mahakavi Bharathi during his exile in Pondicherry from 1908 to 1918. A
Tamil Journal called 'Vijaya' was started by S Thirumalachariar on Triplicane High Road Madras and later shifted to Pondicherry in 1909. The Cover page of August 1909 issue of Vijaya from Pondicherry carried the picture of Bharath Mata with the sacred words of Vande Mataram. This has also been presented.