Thread by @sheshapatangi1

After First war Of Indian Independence, the British had relatively calm reign for next 40 years.
But One Word Changed The Course Of History and It Was VANDE MATARAM.
Tributes to the legend #BankimChandraChatterjee, on his jayanti.
A great Scholar, Who gave us the song and slogan

#VandeMataram ".
Who with his novel #AnandaMath described the Sanyasi's Fight against British. (British had buried this history & Role of Saffron questioned). The Inspiration for #AnushilanSamithi.
That Every Freedom Fighter Who Sacrificed Their Lives For This Country Had

#Vandemataram On Their Lips Till Their Last Breath. The Misplaced Secularism of Congress & Left Have Denied Him His Place, Nevertheless #BankimChandra Will Always Be Soul Stirrer For Crores of Patriots
Please read the English
Translation of Anandmath by Shri Aurobindo & Barindra

Kumar Ghosh for originality.
Bankim's earliest publications were in Ishwar Chandra Gupta's weekly newspaper Sangbad Prabhakar.
Following the model of Ishwar Chandra Gupta, he began his literary career as a writer of verse.
His talents showed him other directions, and turned to

fiction.
Did you know, the 1st English Novel from a Bharatiya was written by him? The novel was Rajmohan's Wife. Bankim Chandra's Novels except for Anandmath had women as Protagonists & #KapalaKundala is published by Delhi based Left Books who claims to be champions of Marxism.

Born on 27 June 1838 in Bengal Presidency, Chatterjee got married at the age of 11. However, after his wife passed away in 1859, he remarried. Chatterjee and his second wife, Rajlakshmi Devi, had three daughters.
Chatterjee went on to become one of the first graduates from

Calcutta University, and after graduation, he was appointed the deputy collector of Midnapur by Lieutenant Governor of Calcutta in 1859. He later also acquired a degree in law from Presidency College in 1869.
He worked as the deputy collector for 32 years and retired in 1891.

This is from @IndianExpress June 27-2017
Scholar Partha Chatterjee once wrote about him in an essay, “There were three kinds of knowledge, Bankim argued: knowledge of the world of the self and of God. Knowledge of world consisted of Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics & Chemistry.

These, one would have to learn from the West. Knowledge of the self meant Biology & Sociology. These, too, one would have to learn from the West. Finally, knowledge of God.
In this field, the Hindu Shastra contained the greatest human achievements — the Upanishads, the Darshana

the Puranas & principally the Gita.”
He also started a monthly literary magazine, #Bangadarshan in 1872, through which Bankim is credited with influencing the emergence of Bengali identity & nationalism. Many of his novels were published in this magazine in the form of serials.

Besides, it had works by scholars, literary critics & other intellectuals. There were articles on the Puranas and the Vedas — exhorting the intellectual community to stay rooted while embracing the ideas of modernity.
Bankim Chandra wanted the magazine to work as the

“medium of communication between the educated and the uneducated classes” at a time English had become the language of communication between the educated class, widening the gulf between the higher and lower ranks of society. The magazine carried fiction too, and his serialized

novels were a hit with the readers — especially the literate women. Almost all of Bankim’s novels were published in it.
Rabindranath Tagore was 11 when Bangadarshan
was launched. He would read the magazine with great enthusiasm, as the Nobel laureate later wrote in his

recollections of childhood, “It was bad enough to have to wait till the next monthly number was out, but to be kept waiting further till my elders had done with it was simply intolerable.”
The magazine stopped publication in the late 1880s, but was resurrected in 1901 with

Tagore as its editor. While it carried Tagore’s writings — including his first full-length novel Chokher Bali — the ‘new’ Bangadarshan retained its original philosophy, nurturing the nationalistic spirit.
During the Partition of Bengal (1905), the magazine played a vital role

in giving an outlet to the voices of protest and dissent. Tagore’s Amar Sonar Bangla — the national anthem of Bangladesh now was first published in Bangadarshan.

Bankim’s commentary on the Gita was published eight years after his death and contained his comments up to the 19th

Verse of Chapter 4.
Through this work, he attempted to reassure Hindus who were increasingly being exposed to Western ideas. His belief was, that there was
"No serious hope of progress in India except in Hinduism-reformed, regenerated and purified". He wrote an extensive

commentary on two verses in particular – 2.12 and 2.13 – which deal with the immortality of the soul and its reincarnation.

#Anandamath was written at a time when
Bengal was hit by three famines one after another, Anandamath was the story of a group of monks who fought the

British during the Fakir-Sanyasi Rebellion of the early 1770s. Banned by the British, it was in this masterpiece that Vande Mataram was first published as a poem.
Sadly, two years after he published this novel, an ageing Bankim breathed his last on April 8, 1894, unaware that

his poem would go on to be immortalised in the annals of Indian history.
In the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress, Rabindranath Tagore gave a tune (that he had composed himself) to Vande Mataram & sang it publicly for the first time. In 1905, it became INC’s rallying

cry during the partition of Bengal and soon graduated to becoming fiercely emblematic of the Indian freedom struggle.
As Gandhi wrote in Harijan in July 1939
“No matter what its source was, and how and when it was composed, had become a most powerful battle cry among Hindus and

Musalmans of Bengal during the Partition days. It was an anti-imperialist cry.
As a lad, when I knew nothing of ‘Ananda math’ or even Bankim, its immortal author, Vande Mataram had gripped me. And when I first heard it sung, it had enthralled me. I associated the purest national

spirit with it. It never occurred to me that it was a Hindu song or meant only for Hindus. Unfortunately now we have fallen on evil days…”

On 08th April 1894, Maa Bharati decided to take her beloved son back into her arms, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was around 56 years then.

If he had lived up for another 2 decades, probably Bharat’s history would’ve been different.
Shatakoti Pranam.

#ForgottenHeroes

#BankimchandraChatterjee

#VANDEMATARAM