Vande Mataram Quiz

What is the official status of Vande Mataram in India?

• National Anthem
• National Song
• National Pledge
• National Motto

Answer: National Song. Vande Mataram is the National Song. Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem, and "Satyameva Jayate" is the national motto.

What does the phrase "Vande Mataram" mean?

• Victory to the motherland
• Long live the revolution
• Mother, I bow to thee
• Truth alone triumphs

Answer: Mother, I bow to thee. It means "Mother, I bow to thee" or "I salute thee, Mother", the motherland pictured as a mother. Sri Aurobindo translated the song into English.

Vande Mataram was composed by which writer, who also served the British government as a deputy magistrate?

• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Sri Aurobindo
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Answer: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838 to 1894) worked as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector while writing novels in Bengali.

In which of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novels does Vande Mataram appear?

• Durgeshnandini
• Kapalkundala
• Devi Chaudhurani
• Anandamath

Answer: Anandamath. The song is part of Anandamath (1882). Durgeshnandini (1865) was his first Bengali novel.

Anandamath, the novel that carries Vande Mataram, is set against which historical background?

• The Revolt of 1857
• The Sannyasi rebellion and the Bengal famine of 1770
• The Partition of Bengal in 1905
• The Battle of Plassey in 1757

Answer: The Sannyasi rebellion and the Bengal famine of 1770. The novel follows an army of sannyasis fighting British forces, set around the great Bengal famine of 1770 and the Sannyasi rebellion.

In which language did Bankim Chandra write Vande Mataram?

• Hindi
• Pali
• Sanskritised Bengali
• Odia

Answer: Sanskritised Bengali. It is written in Bengali heavily mixed with Sanskrit words, which is why its opening lines read almost like Sanskrit.

Vande Mataram was first published in which literary magazine founded by Bankim Chandra himself?

• Bangadarshan
• Tattwabodhini Patrika
• Amrita Bazar Patrika
• Sambad Prabhakar

Answer: Bangadarshan. Bankim founded Bangadarshan in 1872. Official accounts say the song first appeared in its pages, before the 1882 book edition of Anandamath.

The year-long celebration of 150 years of Vande Mataram began on 7 November 2025. In which year is the song believed to have been written?

• 1857
• 1882
• 1896
• 1875

Answer: 1875. It is believed to have been written on Akshaya Navami, 7 November 1875. The 2025 launch saw a commemorative stamp and a Rs 150 coin released.

Who sang Vande Mataram at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, its first famous public rendition?

• Sarojini Naidu
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• Bipin Chandra Pal

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore sang it at the 1896 session. He later also wrote Jana Gana Mana, the National Anthem.

Vande Mataram became a mass slogan of protest during the movement against which event?

• The Rowlatt Act
• The Simon Commission
• The Partition of Bengal
• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Answer: The Partition of Bengal. During the 1905 protests against the Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement, "Vande Mataram" was chanted at rallies across India.

In 1907, which revolutionary unfurled an Indian flag bearing the words "Vande Mataram" at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart?

• Annie Besant
• Bhikaiji Cama
• Sarojini Naidu
• Kasturba Gandhi

Answer: Bhikaiji Cama. Bhikaiji Cama raised the flag in Germany on 22 August 1907. "Vande Mataram" was written across its middle band in Devanagari.

In 1937, the Congress Working Committee recommended singing which part of Vande Mataram at national gatherings?

• Only the first two stanzas
• Only the last stanza
• All six stanzas
• Only the opening line

Answer: Only the first two stanzas. The committee chose the first two stanzas, partly because later stanzas refer to Hindu goddesses such as Durga and Lakshmi.

On which date did the Constituent Assembly adopt Vande Mataram as the National Song?

• 15 August 1947
• 26 November 1949
• 26 January 1950
• 24 January 1950

Answer: 24 January 1950. It was adopted on 24 January 1950, the Assembly's last sitting, when the National Anthem was also adopted and members signed the Constitution.

Who declared in the Constituent Assembly that Vande Mataram "shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana"?

• Jawaharlal Nehru
• B. R. Ambedkar
• Rajendra Prasad
• Sardar Patel

Answer: Rajendra Prasad. Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, made the statement on 24 January 1950, the same day he was elected India's first President.

Under the Home Ministry order of 28 January 2026, the full official version of Vande Mataram has how many stanzas?

• Two
• Four
• Six
• Eight

Answer: Six. The order lists six stanzas lasting about 3 minutes 10 seconds. When both are performed, Vande Mataram now comes before the National Anthem.