How well do we know about it?
I have always wondered who is the "adhinayak" and
"bharat bhagya vidhata", whose praise we are singing.
I thought may be God! Our current National Anthem
"Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the
country. Did you know the following about our national
anthem? I didn't.
To begin with, India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka,
was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of King George V and the
Queen of England when they visited India in 1919. To
honor their visit Pundit Motilal Nehru had the five
stanzas included, which are in praise of the King and
Queen.(And most of us think it is in the praise of our
great motherland!!!) In the original Bengali verses
only those provinces that were under British rule,
i.e. Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat,Maratha .. etc.
were mentioned. None of the princely states were
recognized which are integral parts of India now -
Kashmir,Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore, Tamilnadu (old
Karnatak) or Kerala. Neither the Indian ocean nor the
Arabian Sea were included, since they were directly
under Portuguese rule at that time. The Jana Gana
Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord
of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the
bestower of good fortune".
Following is a translation
of the five stanzas which glorify the King:
1st stanza (Indian)People wake up remembering your
good name and ask for your blessings and they sing
your glories.
2nd stanza Around your throne people of all
religions come and give their love and anxiously wait
to hear your kind words.
3rd stanza Praise to the King for being the
charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond
misery.
4th stanza Drowned in the deep ignorance and
suffering, poverty stricken, unconscious country?
waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's
(the Queen's) true protection.
5th stanza In your compassionate plans, the sleeping
Bharat (India) will wake up. We bow down to your feet
O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).
This whole poem does not indicate any love for the
Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing
Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying?
Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God who is praised
here? The poem does not indicate that. It is time now
to understand the original purpose and the implication
of this, rather than blindly singing as has been done
the past fifty years. Nehru chose the present
National anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because
he thought that it would be easier for the band to
play. It was an absurd reason. But today, for that
matter, bands have advanced in technical skills
and they can very well play any music. So they can
as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better
composition in praise of our dear Motherland -India.
Wake up, it's high time! Vande Mataram should be our
National Anthem.
