A thought for our (Indian) National Anthem!

[ambaprasad_sc 0]

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.

 

[I_love_krishna_ 0]

Isn't Indian National Anthem "Saree Jaha Se Acha"? I heard that it was...

[Avinash 0]

"Saree Jaha Se Acha" is a song glorifying India, but it is not the national anthem. The national anthem is

"Jana gana mana".

[Gauracandra 1]

Its none of my business, but that national anthem I think is just perpetuating a subservient position to the Indian people. A national anthem in praise of a British King? Is it loved by the Indian people? If so, then keep it. If not, then get rid of it.

[Guest guest]

Whoever has done this deep digging work resulting in a pak of horrifying facts. Thanks a ton to him/her. As rightly put, vande maataram should be our National Anthem.

 

 

[Guest guest]

I am sad to know that all these days i was not singing was my national anthem, but the glory of the people who ruined our country.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Who said that it was written to honor the visit of a British King and Queen during 1919. For your kind information it was written in 1911 and first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. So you better change the names in your analysis with those names who visited the country in to strengthen your baseless.

 

Jai Hind,

An Indian.

[Guest guest]

I am very much upset about all this. After 50 years of independence, we are still using it as our anthem. It is a topic which sghould be discussed over other issues.

[Guest guest]

yes. i do agree that we are praying our motherland and not the british ruler

 

this should be stressed if untrue version is getting upper hand ( i.e. the song was in praise of George the vi.)

 

true indian

 

 

[Guest guest]

yes. i do agree that we are praying our motherland and not the british ruler. ambaprasad to make a note of this pl.

this should be stressed if untrue version is getting upper hand ( i.e. the song was in praise of George the vi.)

 

true indian

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

Its now crazy to find that Karnataka is aiming to have Anthem for the state ................Whats going on guys ?????What they aim to attain by this---whether they are going to record this song in CD and sell it of----its really comical to find anthem seperately for state--if its going to get agreed for any reason --then every state will follow this and it will become difficult for school childrens............

 

Regards

N.Anand

[Guest guest]

A man picks up a 2 facts quoting others who share his idea of pushing for certain changes to forge a new national identity and nobody criticizes him? concentrate on issues that make india fairer and just, rather than picking up mischievous issues.

[Guest guest]

JANA GANA MANA WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR KING GEORGE BUT ADDRESSED TO THE BHAGYA VIDHATA OF INDIAS DESTINY...GOD. HIS LETTERS TO PULARI SEN CLEARLY DOCUMENT THIS FACT. HE HAS FURTHER WRITTEN THAT NO GEORGE COULD EVER CONTROL INDIAS DESTINY.

ALSO JANA GANA MANA WAS SUNG NOT FIRST SUNG IN 1919..BUT IN 1911 AT THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS SESSION.

 

 

[Guest guest]

YOU ARE WORTH CALLING AN INDIAN

 

[Guest guest]

I BELIVE IAM PRAISING MY MOTHERLAND .I FEEL ITS THE WAY YOU THINK MATTERS A LOT .PLEASE FOR GODS SAKE DONT DECREASE THE BEAUTY OF IT BY YOUR NONSENSE

[Guest guest]

Here I dont know how far its ture or false! Anyway when I sang National Anthem I was not understanding anything initially later I myself thought this may be praising our country. Later I found out some of its meaning but still I keep a silent prayer as others sing that beautiful tune.

 

Agree to the fact that it is not sung in 1919 but for National congress session, only. As Pantit Nehru was a great fool for those know him really well. Tagore might ve also fooled him.