Friday 8 February 2013

India's National Anthem And Song



Just as our country has two official names, India and Bharat, it has two national songs – one national anthem and a national song, Jana Gana Mana  and Vande Mataram  respectively.

Soon after Independence in August, 1947, the national anthem of India was to be played at the U N O. There was no Indian National Anthem at that time. Government of India, as a provisional measure, advised the Indian Delegation to play Jana Gana Mana. A gramophone record of the song was played at the U N.

Two days before the Constitution of India came into force on the 26th January, 1950, the Constituent Assembly adopted Jana Gana Mana as our National Anthem on the 24th January, 1950. That day, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly made this Statement:

“The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to alterations in the words as the Government may authorize as occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Mana Gana and shall have equal status with it.”


Two songs had been used during the struggle for independence. The more widely used was Vande Matarm which appears in  Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anand Math published in 1882. However, its origin dates back much earlier, to perhaps the 17th or the 18th Century. It was sung at the session of Indian National Congress in 1896. This song was set to music by Rabindranath Tagore. It was a popular song during the ant-partition movement in Bengal. It was sung during the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Barisal in April. 1906. Later in that year, Tagore himself sang it on the opening day of the Congress session.  

In 1937, the Congress Working Committee appointed a sub-committee consisting of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Acharya Narendra Dev to examine, in consultation with Rabindranath Tagore, the suitability of this song as the National Anthem. The Committee decided that only the first two stanzas of the song Vande Mataram should be sung at national gatherings and that any other song of an unobjectionable nature could be sung along with it.     

Jana Gana Mana, composed by Rabindranath Tagore, was published under the title Bharat Vidhata in the January, 1912 issue of Tattvavodhini Patrika of which Tagore was the Editor. It was sung on the 27th December, 1911, the second day of the Congress session. Vande Mataram had been sung on the first day of Congress session as usual.

There was a controversy that the phrase ‘Bharata Bhagya Vidhata’ referred to the British King George V who happened to be on a visit to India at the time. Tagore himself rubbished this interpretation saying, “ I should insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such unbounded stupidity.”

Azad Hind Government of Subhas Chandra Bose rendered the song from Bengali to Hindustani and adopted this version as its national anthem.      

There is a view that the reason why Jana Gana Mana was chosen over Vande Mataram was probably that the latter did not lend itself to harmonization

In a statement made on the 25th August, 1948 in Parliament (The Constituent Assembly functioned as the Provisional Parliament till the First General Elections under the Constitution in 1952.) Jawaharlal Nehru said, “It is unfortunate that some kind of argument has arisen between Vande Mataram and Jana gana Mana. Vande Mataram is obviously and indisputably the premier national song of India with a great historical tradition. It was intimately connected with our struggle for freedom. That position is bound to retain and no other song can replace it. It represents the passion and poignancy of that struggle, but perhaps not so much the culmination of it.”

The standard time for a formal rendition of Jana Gana Mana,  India’s National Anthem is 52 seconds.

Vande Mataram!  Jai Hind!

  
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5 comments:

  1. Unknown2 May 2013 at 14:31

    Great Concept. Whenever the anthem is sung or played live, the audience should stand in attention position. It cannot be indiscriminately sung or played randomly. Hence sahara people are putting their best effort to make the work record. We should also participate to achieve the world record. Today we live amid a sea of corruptions but tomorrow, through creativity and struggle, win the fight to free all of our heart and minds. Let’s get creative. Let’s win.
    Bharat Bhawna Diwas

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    1. The Gardener3 May 2013 at 06:56

      Earlier, in cinema hall, the national anthem was being played while the national flag was shown fluttering magnificently on the screen, at the end of each film-show. Perhaps this was being done to inspire the people with the nationalist feeling. I do not know when this practice had been started; perhaps it was done to make the general public aware about the national anthem. However, people had no patience and used to walk away even as the national anthem was being played. To stop this disrespect to the national anthem, the practice was stopped.

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    2. The Gardener3 May 2013 at 07:02

      Whatever be the charges about financial irregularities, Sahara people are doing a great service to the country to inspire the nationalist feeling. In the same way, Flag Association of India led by Naveen Jindal is doing a good job to promote the respectful use of the National Flag.

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  2. dhiraj3 May 2013 at 15:50

    Great Concept. Let’s make a Crowdsourcing India’s National Anthem by joining sahara India Pariwar to make a world record with our national anthem.

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