100 years of National Anthem
A strange turn of fortune surrounds social activist Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption on December 27.
The day is significant because India’s national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, celebrates its centenary on the same day. The irony is unmistakable as the nation wages a second struggle for freedom from internal corruption, or the enemy within.
Literary doyen Rabindranath Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana was first performed on December 27, 1911, at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress which was then a national movement, not a political party. Decades later, once the near-impossible dream of Independence was realized, the Constituent Assembly adopted the song as the national anthem on January 24, 1950.
Written in Sanskritized Bengali, the passages eulogize the immense power of India’s diversity in unity. A handwritten translation in English which Tagore called The Morning Song of India is available online, so inspiring for its cursive beauty as well as lyrical thought.
Although he wrote five lengthy stanzas to Jana Gana Mana, only the first was recorded because of time constraints. Most people are unaware that the 52-second version we hear is part of the whole. On the rare occasion that they do get to listen to the entire song, they are surprised.
Jana Gana Mana was written around the time King George V ascended the throne of England, and some people mistakenly believed that the song honoured his coronation. The regent arrived in India shortly after that, leading to the laying of foundation of Gateway of India.
We are also celebrating Tagore 150th birth anniversary.
