Anandamath
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"; Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"
Meaning
Anandamath is a Bengali novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, published in 1882. Its story is set during the Sannyasi rebellion of the 1770s in Bengal, when bands of ascetics rose up in revolt. The novel includes the hymn "Vande Mataram" ("I bow to thee, Mother"). It matters because it spread the idea of the nation as a mother who must be worshipped and served.
Example
Bankim wrote "Vande Mataram" in the 1870s as a hymn to the motherland, and later put it into Anandamath. During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal (1905–07), people sang the song widely, and it became a battle cry of Indian nationalism.
Don't confuse with
- "Vande Mataram": this is the song, not the novel. It was written in the 1870s and only later placed inside Anandamath (1882).
- Abanindranath Tagore's Bharat Mata (1905): this is a painting of the mother figure, not a book.