Jana Gana Mana

History

The National Anthem of India is officially titled "Jana Gana Mana". The song was originally composed in Bengali by India's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911. The parent song, "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata", is a religious hymn originally composed for the monotheistic Brahma Samaj that has five verses of which only the first verse was adopted as the national anthem.

The lyrics of the song first appeared in 5 stanzas in Bengali magazine in an issue of Tatwabodhini Patrika. The melody of the song, in the Alhaiya Bilaval raga, was composed as a Brahmo hymn by Tagore himself with possibly some help from his musician grand-nephew Dinendranath Tagore. The final form of the song before the first public performance was set on 11 December 1911.

The song was first publicly sung on the second day of the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Kolkata on 27 December 1911 by Rabindranath Tagore's niece in her school assembly. Then, it was followed in January 1912 at the annual event of the Adi Brahmo Samaj, However, it was largely unknown except to the readers of the Adi Brahmo Samaj journal, Tattwabodhini Patrika. The poem was published in January 1912, under the title "Bharat Bhagya Bidhata" in the Tatwabodhini Patrika, which was the official publication of the Brahmo Samaj with Tagore then the Editor.

In 1917, the song was again performed at the Congress conference and this time in aid of instrumental music by the Mahraja Bahadur of Nattore.

Outside of Calcutta, the song was first sung by the bard himself at a session in Besant Theosophical College in Madanapalle, Madras (current Andhra Pradesh) on 28 February 1919 when Tagore visited the college and sang the song. The song enthralled the college students and Margaret Cousins, then vice-principal of the college (also an expert in European music and wife of Irish poet James Cousins). Based on the notes provided by Tagore himself, the song was preserved in 1919 in Western notation at Madanapalle by Margaret Cousins and her students. The whole episode was recorded by James Cousins in his autobiography "We Two Together":

Thus, Margaret Cousins became probably the first person to transcribe and preserve Tagore's composition in Western sheet music notation at Madanapalle based on the notes provided by Tagore himself. And soon it took its place in the "daily deciation" of the combined school and college of Besant Hall in Madanapalle and is still sung to this date. It was also here that the song was first translated into English by Tagore as "The Morning Song of India".

The song was selected as the national anthem by Subhas Chandra Bose while he was in Germany. On the occasion of the founding meeting of the German-Indian Society on 11 September 1942 in the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg, "Jana Gana Mana" was played for the first time by the Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra as the national anthem of India. The musical notations for this interpretation of the song were prepared by B.L. Mukherjee and Ambik Majumdar.

Before it officially became the national anthem of India in 1950, "Jana Gana Mana" was heard in the 1945 film Hamrahi. It was also adopted as a school song of The Doon School, Dehradun in 1935.

On the occasion of India attaining freedom, the Indian Constituent Assembly assembled for the first time as a sovereign body at midnight on 14 August 1947; the session closed with a unanimous performance of "Jana Gana Mana".

The members of the Indian delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations held in New York in 1947 gave a recording of "Jana Gana Mana" as the country's national anthem. The song was played by the house orchestra in front of a gathering consisting of representatives from all over the world.

Code of conduct

The National Anthem of India is played or sung on various occasions. Instructions have been issued from time to time about the correct versions of the anthem, the occasions on which these are to be played or sung and the need for paying respect to the anthem by observance of proper decorum on such occasions. The substance of these instructions has been embodied in the information sheet issued by the government of India for general information and guidance. The approximate duration of the full version of the National Anthem of India is 52 seconds; the shorter version is approximately 20 seconds.

Lyrics

Original Bengali composition

The poem was composed in a literary register of the Bengali language called Sadhu Bhasha, which is heavily Sanskritised (i.e. mainly uses tatsama words).

Official lyrics

Official English lyrics

The English version was translated by Rabindranath Tagore himself on 28 February 1919 at the Besant Theosophical College. :Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, :dispenser of India's destiny. :Thy name rouses the hearts of the Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat and Maratha; :of the Dravida, Orissa and Bengal. :It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of the Yamuna and Ganges :and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean. :They pray for Thy blessings and sing Thy praise. :The saving of all people waits in thy hand, :Thou dispenser of India's destiny. :Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.

Literal translation

:Victory to the Lord of the minds of all the people, :The dispenser of India's destiny! :Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha, :Dravida, Utkala, Bengal; :The Vindhyas, Himalayas, Yamunas, the Ganges, :The wavering waves of the ocean all arise in your auspicious name, :Seek your auspicious blessings, sing your victory lore. :Victory to the graciousness of the people, :The dispenser of India's destiny! :Victory! Victory! Victory! :Victory, victory, victory, victory to you.

Abridged version

A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the National Anthem is also played on certain occasions.

Raga

"Jana Gana Mana" is sung in the Alhaiya Bilaval raga, whereby the tivra Madhyama svara is employed.

Other transcriptions

Gallery

File:The Morning Song of India.png|Tagore's translation of "Jana Gana Mana" on 28 February 1919, at the Besant Theosophical College File:English translation of Jana Gana Mana in Tagore's handwriting page 1.jpg|Page 1 of Tagore's translation of "Jana Gana Mana" on 28 February 1919, at the Besant Theosophical College File:English translation of Jana Gana Mana in Tagore's handwriting page 2.jpg|Page 2 of Tagore's translation of "Jana Gana Mana" on 28 February 1919, at the Besant Theosophical College

Controversies

Historical significance

The composition was first sung during a convention of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta on 27 December 1911. It was sung on the second day of the convention. The event was reported as such in the British Indian press:

Many historians aver that the newspaper reports cited above were misguided. The confusion arose in the Indian press since a different song, "Badshah Humara" written in Hindi by Rambhuj Chaudhary, was sung on the same occasion in praise of George V. The nationalist press in India stated this difference of events clearly:

Even the report of the annual session of the Indian National Congress of December 1911 stated this difference:

On 10 November 1937, Tagore wrote a letter to Pulin Bihari Sen about the controversy. That letter in Bengali can be found in Tagore's biography* Rabindrajibani, volume II page 339* by Prabhatkumar Mukherjee.

Again in his letter of 19 March 1939, Tagore writes:

These clarifications by Tagore regarding the controversy occurred only after the death of King George V in 1936. Earlier, in 1915, after Tagore was awarded the Nobel Literature Prize, George V had conferred a knighthood on him, which he renounced in 1919 in protest over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre; writing a letter addressed to the viceroy of India Lord Chelmsford: "The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of my country men."

Singing

In Kerala, students belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious denomination were expelled by school authorities for their refusal to sing the national anthem on religious grounds, although they stood up when the anthem was sung. The Kerala High Court concluded that there was nothing in it which could offend anyone's religious susceptibilities, and upheld their expulsion. On 11 August 1986, the Supreme Court reversed the High Court and ruled that the High Court had misdirected itself because the question is not whether a particular religious belief or practice appeals to our reason or sentiment but whether the belief is genuinely and conscientiously held as part of the profession or practice of religion. "Our personal views and reactions are irrelevant." The Supreme Court affirmed the principle that it is not for a secular judge to sit in judgment on the correctness of a religious belief.

The Supreme Court observed in its ruling that:

In some states, the anthem must be played before films are played at cinemas. On 30 November 2016, to instil "committed patriotism and nationalism", the Supreme Court ordered that all cinemas nationwide must play the national anthem, accompanied by an image of the flag of India, before all films. Patrons were expected to stand in respect of the anthem, and doors to a cinema hall were expected to be locked during the anthem to minimise disruption. The order was controversial, as it was argued that patrons who chose not to participate would be targeted and singled out, as was the case in an incident publicised in 2015 which purported to show a group of patrons (alleged by the YouTube uploader to be Muslims) being heckled by others. On 10 February 2017, two Kashmiris (which included an employee of the state government) were arrested under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act for not standing during the anthem at a cinema, in the first such arrest of its kind made by a state government. On 3 July 2023, an executive magistrate in Srinagar sent 11 men to jail for a week, allegedly not rising for the anthem at a 25 June event in the presence of J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. Other incidents of violent outbreaks associated with the policy were also reported.

A cinema club in Kerala (whose film festival was required to comply with the order, leading to several arrests) challenged the order as an infringement of their fundamental rights, arguing that cinemas were "singularly unsuited for the gravitas and sobriety that must accompany the playing of the national anthem", and that the films screened would often "be at odds with sentiments of national respect". In October 2017, Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud questioned the intent of the order, arguing that citizens "don't have to wear patriotism on our sleeve", and that it should not be assumed that people who do not stand for the anthem were any less patriotic than those who did. In January 2018, the order was lifted, pending further government discussion.

In October 2019, a video of a Bengaluru couple being bullied for not standing up during the national anthem in a movie hall went viral. They were questioned "Are you Pakistani?". There was a debate on the issue; some lawyers recalled Article 21, some people called it a way to gain media attention and some recommended attending the movie after the national anthem is played to avoid any problems. But after the debate, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier order making it mandatory for cinema halls to play the National Anthem.

Regional aspects

Another controversy is that only those provinces that were under direct British rule, i.e. Punjab (Punjab Province), Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha (Bombay Presidency), Dravida (Madras Presidency), Utkala (Orissa) and Bengal (Bengal Presidency), were mentioned. None of the princely states – Jammu and Kashmir, Rajputana, Central India Agency, Hyderabad, Mysore or the states in Northeast India (erstwhile Assam), which are now parts of India, were mentioned. However, opponents of this proposition claim that Tagore mentioned only the border states of India to include complete India. Whether the princely states would form a part of an independent Indian republic was a matter of debate even until Indian independence.

In 2005, there were calls to delete the word "Sind" and substitute it with the word Kashmir. The argument was that Sindh was no longer a part of India, having become part of Pakistan as a result of the Partition of 1947. Opponents of this proposal hold that the word "Sind" refers to the Indus River and Sindhi culture and that Sindhi people are a part of India's cultural fabric. The Supreme Court of India declined to change the national anthem and the wording remains unchanged.

On 17 December 2013, MLA of Assam, Phani Bhushan Choudhury cited an article in The Times of India published on 26 January 1950, stating that originally the word "Kamarup" was included in the song, but was later changed to "Sindhu" and claimed that Kamarup should be re-included. To this, the then minister Rockybul Hussain replied that the state government would initiate steps in this regard after a response from the newspaper. The debate was further joined by the then minister Ardhendu Dey, mentioning "Sanchayita" (edited by Tagore himself) etc. where he said Kamarup was not mentioned.

In 2017 the state government of Jharkhand under the Bharatiya Janata Party proposed making the singing of the national anthem compulsory in Madrasas. This was met with opposition from a section of Muslim clerics because it allegedly violated the basic principles of the Islamic centres of learning.

Notable events

Guinness World Record

As of the last retrieval, Jana Gana Mana holds the record of the most people singing a national/regional anthem simultaneously.

Notes

References

References

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