Baṅgamātā (Bengali: বঙ্গমাতা), Bangla Maa (Bengali: বাংলা মা), Mother Bengal or simply বাংলা/ Bangla, is a personification of Bengal[1][2][3][4][5] conceived during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists.[6][7][8][9] In Bengali poetry, literature, culture and patriotic songs, the Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well – protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life.
In Amar Sonar Bangla, later adopted as the national anthem of Bangladesh, Rabindranath Tagore used the word "Maa" (Mother) numerous times to refer to the motherland, i.e. Bengal. Her physical representations and conception are distinctly Hindu in character.
^Sri Aurobindo commented on his English translation of the poem, saying, "It is difficult to translate the National Anthem of Bengal into verse in another language owing to its unique union of sweetness, simple directness and high poetic force." Quoted in Bhabatosh Chatterjee (ed.), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Essays in Perspective, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1994, p. 601.