Vande Mataram exhibition opens at Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya ahead of I-day

The Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya in New Delhi has opened a five-day exhibition showcasing rare Vande Mataram memorabilia, including vintage stamps, an old tricolour, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s first-day cover and copies of Anandamath, marking 150 years of the national song

New Delhi: Ahead of the 80th Independence Day, the Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya is hosting an exhibition featuring a range of objects, including commemorative postage stamps on Vande Mataram and a special first day cover on its composer issued in 1976, and a sandalwood inlay wooden sculpture depicting Bharat Mata. The five-day exhibition which began on Saturday also has on display an old tricolour bearing ‘Vande Mataram’ in Devanagari in the middle, officials said.

The event is being hosted in the new wing of the Prime Ministers’ Museum in the Teen Murti Bhawan complex as part of the celebrations ahead of the 80th Independence Day on August 15.

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The exhibition, being held as part of a special commemorative programme ‘Vande Mataram: A Timeless Tribute to the Motherland’ from August 8-12 also celebrates 150 years of Vande Mataram, and its contribution to India’s freedom struggle, the officials said.

Other objects on display include a set of decorative buttons bearing Vande Mataram in Devanagari, with an old tricolour in the background.

Commemorative postage stamps on Vande Mataram and a special first day cover on its composer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, issued in 1976, along with a commemorative stamp issued in November 2025 by India Posts are also part of the exhibition. Besides, copies of ‘Anandmath’ in which Vande Mataram was first published fully in Bangla in 1882, and a copy of its English translation by Aurobindo Ghose in 1909 are also on display.

Some of the exhibits also draw from the collection of the Toshakhana of the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (PMML), a senior official said. Written in 1875 by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Vande Mataram had turned into a rallying cry during the freedom movement. It was adopted as India’s national song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.

The government last November launched a year-long celebration to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram was initially composed independently and later included in Chatterjee’s novel ‘Anandamath’. It was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress Session in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

The chant Vande Mataram as a political slogan was first used on August 7, 1905, according to a note, ‘150 Years of Vande Mataram: A Melody That Became a Movement’, shared by the government on November 6 last year.

Vande Mataram was first published in the literary journal ‘Bangadarshan’ on November 7, 1875. Later, Chatterjee incorporated it in his novel ‘Anandamath’, which was published in 1882. It was set to music by Tagore.