Our national anthem

Hi friends,

A long time ago we were talking about whether our
national anthem was composed in honour of English
royalty or not. Found an article in this regard which
i have attached below. Hopefully this should answer
our question.

says
Raja Bharathi Godhana


    Our National Anthem:-  The Story of Unfortunate   
      Controversies  A.K. Dasgupta

    It seems that “controversy” is the other name of
our National Anthem Janaganamana Adhinayaka. It began
in 1911 when the song was sung for the first time in
public on December 27, as the opening song of the
second day’s sitting of the Calcutta session of the
Congress. Controversies were raised intermittently
throughout the twentieth century. A controversy
resurfaced early this year with the filing of a PIL in
the Supreme Court with a plea that the word “Sindhu”,
which is no longer a part of India, be replaced with
“Kashmir”. The reason, reportedly, is that its
continuation might trigger off “cartographic dispute”
with Pakistan. The Apex Court had sought the response
of the government on the issue.
    It was in the late 1930s that the song attained
the standing to be seriously considered as the
National Anthem. And that was also the time of the
beginning of a persistent slander campaign that it was
composed on the occasion of the visit of King George V
and actually was sung in the Delhi Coronation Durbar
in December 1911. The rebuttal of the sycophansy
charge by Rabindranath became known first in 1937, and
again in 1939. Interestingly, in 1937 Rabindranath
himself, in a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then
President of the Congress, approved the suggestion
that Bandemataram could indeed be the National Anthem.
However, Janaganamana became the target for further
calumny during 1947-49, when the Constituent Assembly
had take a decision about our National Anthem. It was
in 1949 that a well-documented booklet India’s
National Anthem written by Prabodhchandra Sen
(1897-1986)1 was published by Visva-Bharati dispelling
wrong notions about the song. An enlarged edition was
also published in 1972.2 Sen also wrote two pieces on
the issue which were included in a collection of
Bengali essays on Rabindra-nath.3
    The English booklet addressed mainly three issues:
(a) whether the song was a eulogy of King George V
composed on the occasion of his visit to India (and,
according to some, it was at the Delhi Durbar); (b)
whether it could be given the status of the National
Anthem, even if it deserved the prestige of a
patriotic song; and (c) whether, in view of the
absence of the names of several provinces, it has
enough all-India appeal to claim the status of the
National Anthem. The object of this article is to
present an overview of the available facts about the
controversies which somehow refuse to die.
    w
    The visit of King George V on the occasion of the
Coronation Durbar coincided with the Calcutta session
of the Congress during December 27-29, 1911. Only a
fortnight ago, the King had proclaimed annulment of
the partition of Bengal. The King was also to visit
Calcutta on December 30. The jubilant Congress, then
under the leadership of moderates like Surendranath
Banerjee, decided to accord an appropriate welcome to
the royal couple. Besides adopting a loyalty
resolution, the leaders arranged for the singing of a
suitable song to mark the occasion. The sequence of
events on December 27, the second day of the session,
was: (a) singing of Janaganamana Adhinayaka; (b)
reading out messages of goodwill received from
well-wishers including Ramsay McDonald; (c) adoption
of the loyalty resolution; and (d) singing of a Hindi
song in praise of the King specially composed for this
purpose.
    The oft-repeated calumny against the National
Anthem is based on the distorted reporting about the
nature of the two songs, one Bengali and the other
Hindi, in two Anglo-Indian dailies and also in the
Reuter despatch from Calcutta. The Englishman, on
December 28, wrote:
    The proceedings opened with a song of welcome to
the King Emperor, specially composed for the occasion
by Babu Rabindranath Tagore... This [loyalty
resolution] was followed by another song in Hindi
welcoming their Imperial Majesties. (p. 11)
    The Statesman on the same day reported thus:
    The proceedings commenced... with a Bengali
song... The choir of girls led by Sarala Devi then
[after the loyalty resolution] sang a hymn of welcome
to the King specially composed for the occasion by
Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet. (p. 11)
    The Reuter despatch published in England in India
on December 29 said:
    ... a Bengali song specially composed in honour of
the royal visit was sung and a resolution welcoming
the King Emperor and Queen Empress was adopted
unanimously. (pp. 11-12)
    the Indian economy.

    Municipal Gazette, was one of the choir of young
men and women. In a letter (Amrita Bazar Patrika,
December 12, 1947), he revealed that the choir was led
by Dinendranath Tagore (1882-1935), the grandson of
the poet’s eldest brother Dwijendranath Tagore,
affectionately called Dinu, by the poet. The
concluding two lines of the letter are worth quoting:
    Imagine the person who wrote in his fifteenth year
a most scathing poem on the Delhi Durbar of 1877
composing a song for it in 1911! Imagine the person
who threw away his knighthood welcoming the King with
a paean of praise. (p. 51)


    It was well-known that the poet was persona non
grata with the British Government till he won the
Nobel Prize in 1913. Only a month after the song
Janaganamana Adhinayaka was sung at the Congress
session, a confidential circular, issued by the
Director of Public Instruction of what was then the
province of East Bengal and Assam, found its way into
the columns of The Bengalee (January, 26, 1912):
    It has come to my knowledge that an institution
known as the “Santiniketan” or “Brahmachary-asrama” at
Bolpur is a place altogether unsuitable for the
education of the sons of Government servants. As I
have information that some Govenment servants in this
province have sent their children there, I think it
necessary to ask you to warn any well-disposed
Government servant you may know or believe to have
sons at this institution or to be about to send sons
to it, to withdraw them or refrain from sending them,
as the case may be; any connection with the
institution in question is likely to prejudice the
future of the boys who remain pupils of it after the
issue of the present warning. (p. 16)
    Referring to this circular, Dutta and Robinson
commented that
    Bengali education officials had already refused
Rabindranath’s books in schools, because his Bengali
was considered too unorthodox, now his own school was
under surveillance by the police and boycotted by
“loyal” Bengalis (some of whom had no doubt attended
his birthday reception) [in January 1912 at Town
Hall]!11
    What was actually sung on December 27, 1911, that
“fateful” day, in praise of the King? Sen refers to a
letter preserved in Rabindrasadan, Visva-Bharati
written by Chitralekha Siddhanta, one among the choir
of young men and women who sang the song. She
recollected the first line of the Hindi song as jug
jibey mera padsha chahun dish raj sabaya. It was
composed by Rambhuj Dutta Choudhary, the husband of
Sarala Devi, who led the choir.12
    However, the confusion about the two songs
continued to be further confounded by such press
reports as
    The National Anthem issue is a battle between two
songs, Bande Mataram,”Mother, I come to thee”, written
by Rabindranath, the Bengali poet, and Jana-gana-mana,
a modern Hindi song favoured by Pandit Nehru, because
it is most easily transcribed into Western music and
can be played by a Western military band.
Jana-gana-mana is now claimed to mean “Mother India,
thou giver of all wealth, culture and goodness”. But
it was actually written at George V’s coronation and
is a paean of praise for the King as the giver of all
wealth and goodness. Although Bande Mataram has the
better words, the tune to which it is sung sounds to
Western ears like a Jam-session band-leader’s
nightmare. Jana-gana-mana will most likely win the
day. (Reported by Allwyn Tebbit, Sunday Times, London,
May 15,
    1948)13
    This report was published when the Constituent
Assembly was considering the adoption of the National
Anthem and was noted by the Indian press with great
amusement.14
    Although the Congress did not formally adopt any
song as the National Anthem, popular usage had made
the first two stanzas of Bande Mataram “a living and
inseperable part of our national movement and as such
they must command our affection and respect”, noted
the Congress Working Committee during its meeting at
Wardha. It was set to music by Rabindranath and sung
at the Congress session in 1896, and thereafter used
to be sung invariably at the beginning and end of
almost all mass meetings and conferences, particularly
after the partition of Bengal in 1905. However, some
Muslim Congressmen objected to the song on the ground
that it contained (particularly, the third and
subsequent stanzas) references to Hindu deities,
especially Goddess Durga, widely worshipped in Bengal.
When the Congress sought the advice of Rabindranath on
the issue, he wrote, in his letter to Jawaharlal
Nehru, that as a Brahmo, he might not be favourably
disposed to the song, but he did not find plausible
reasons for objecting to the adoption of first two
stanzas as the National Anthem. He, however, did agree
that the entire text and its historical background
might hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Even then, its
inspiring quality would not hurt any religion or
community.
    Perhaps, the press report about the letter
prompted James Henry Cousins (1873-1956), the
Principal of the Theosophical College, Madanapalle
(now in Andhra Pradesh), to issue a press statement
stressing the eminent suitability of Janaganamana as
the National Anthem. Calling it as the “Conjoint Voice
of India”, Principal Cousins stated:
    My suggestion is that Dr Rabindranath’s own
intensely patriotic, ideally stimulating, and at the
same time world-embracing Morning Song of India
(“Janaganamana...”) should be confirmed officially as
what it has for almost twenty years been unofficially,
namely, the true National Anthem of India. The real
expression of aspiration for the highest welfare of a
whole people... is universally known in the country.
It has a tune and rythm that make it singable with
definiteness, unity and vigour... Janaganamana
specially recognises the diversity of human life in
India, and gives it its true unification, not an
impossible uniformity of externals, but the real unity
that comes of mutual aspirations towards the universal
life in which all share.... In

    is all the faiths can join without reservation.
(Madras Mail,
    November 3, 1937) (pp. 48-49)
    Janaganamana was adopted as the morning prayer
song at the Theosophical College, ever since
Rabindranath sang it in 1919 when he was a guest of
the college. The audience and college authorities were
so impressed that Principal Cousins requested the poet
to translate the song into English. The poet
translated it on February 28 and gave it the title
“The Morning Song of India”. In a letter (July 3,
1934), Cousins wrote:
    Every working morning Janaganamana is sung by
hundreds of young people in our big hall. We want to
extend the purifying influence by sending copies of it
to other schools and colleges and making it known
abroad. (p. 24)
    Later in 1936, the facsimile of the handwritten
text of the English translation was reproduced in the
College Commemoration Volume and distributed widely,
with a note that this “would become one of the world’s
most precious documents... From Madanapalle,
Janaganamana has spread all over India, and is admired
in Europe and America”.
    Significantly, Ananda Mohan Sahay, a Minister of
the Azad Hind Cabinet of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,
in a lengthy statement sought to remove the
misconception that the Indian National Army discarded
“Janaganamana” and adopted “Subh sukh chain” because
the former was composed in praise of an alien ruler.
    So far as this allegation on the song was
concerned, the Poet’s own reply .... has abundantly
proved its fallacy and I need not say anything about
it. I may say, however, that I was personally and very
closely connected with the adoption of Netaji’s Azad
Hind Government’s National Anthem and wish to make it
clear that Netaji or any one of us in Netaji’s Cabinet
never discarded “Janaganamana”. I was entrusted with
the work of getting a suitable version of the song
composed and with the help of our young poet, Hussain,
I had the privilege of getting the song “Janaganamana”
translated into its Hindi version “Subh sukh chain”.
(The Nation March 10, 1949) (p. 39)
    As regards Bande Mataram, Sahay commented:
    To attempt to compare Bande Mataram with
Janaganamana is absurd and meaningless... To suggest
that “Janaganamana” or “Subh sukh chain” be adopted as
our national anthem does not mean any discredit to
“Bande Mataram” at all. We had and have to discard
many old slogans as obsolete because they are out of
place in a free India. But “Bande Mataram” as a slogan
will remain and will continue to be respected. (The
Nation, March 10, 1949) (p. 39)
    w
    It may be worthwhile to know what Gandhiji thought
about Janaganamana. In its report of a prayer
discourse on May 8, 1946 (Rabindranath’s birth
anniversary), Harijan wrote:
    ... They had just heard the national song, which
has found a place in our national life. How often is
the inspiring refrain heard from thousands of voices!
It is not only a song but is a like a devotional hymn.
(p. 35)
    It was certainly Jawaharlal Nehru who influenced
the final decision in favour of Janaganamana. Replying
to a short notice question in the Constituent Assembly
(Legislative) on August 25, 1948, he stated that
although it was addressed to the Home Minister, he
took the liberty of answering it himself because he
had been largely concerned with the matter:
    ...The question of having a National Anthem tune
to be played by orchestra and bands became an urgent
one for us immediately after August 15, 1947 ... We
could not give an answer because the decision could
only be made ultimately by the Constitutent Assembly.
The “Jana-Gana-Mana” tune, slightly varied, had been
accepted as National Anthem by the Indian Army in
South-East Asia and had attained a degree of
popularity in India also .... I wrote to all the
Provincial Governors and asked their views about our
adopting “Jana-Gana-Mana” or any song as the National
Anthem. I asked them to consult their Premiers before
replying. I made it clear to them that the final
decision rested with the Constituent Assembly, but
owing to the urgency of some directions being sent to
foreign embassies and the Defence Services, a
provisional decision has become essential. Every one
of these Governors, except one (the Governor of the
Central Provinces), signified their approval of
“Jana-Gana-Mana”. Thereupon the Cabinet... came to the
decision that provisionally “Jana-Gana-Mana” should be
used as the tune for the National Anthem till such
time as the Constituent Assembly came to a final
decision...Subsequently the new Premier of West Bengal
[Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy] informed us that he and his
Government preferred “Vande Mataram”. (pp. 35-37)
    As regards the status of Vande Mataram, he said:
    It is unfortunate that some kind of argument has
arisen as between “Vande Mataram” and
“Jana-Gana-Mana”. “Vande Mataram” is obviously and
indisputably the premier national song of India, with
great historical tradition and intimately concerned
with our struggle for freedom. This position it is
bound to retain and no other song can displace it. (p.
37)
    Apparently, Nehru placed more emphasis on the tune
rather than the wording of a National Anthem:
    ... it was felt that the tune was more important
than the words and that this tune should be such as to
represent the Indian musical genius as well as to some
extent Western so that it might equally be adopted to
orchestral and band music, and for playing abroad...
It was thought by some people that the “Vande Mataram”
tune with all its very great attraction and historical
background was not easily suitable for being played in
orchestras in foreign countries and there was not
enough movement in it. It seemed, therefore, that
while “Vande Mataram” should continue to be the
national song par excellence in India, the National
Anthem tune should be that of “Jana-Gana-Mana”. The
wording of “Jana-Gana-Mana” is to be suitably altered
to fit in with the existing circumstances. (pp. 37-38)
    Significantly, the last sentence assumes great
importance in the context of the PIL filed in the
Supreme Court pleading for the deletion of “Sindhu”
and addition of “Kashmir”.
    Thereafter, the Constituent Assembly appointed a
committe to make recommendations about the final
selection of a National Anthem. However, after
deliberations it was thought desirable to leave it
with the President to make a declaration in the
Assembly, Accordingly, when the Assembly met in the

    Constitution Hall on January 24, 1950 to sign the
Constitution, President Rajendra Prasad declared his
decision on the matter in his opening statement:
    There is one matter which has been pending for
discussion, namely, the question of the National
Anthem. At one time, it was thought that the matter
might be brought up before the House and a decision
taken by the House by way of a resolution. But it has
been felt that instead of taking a formal decision by
means of a resolution it was better if I make a
statement with regard to the National Anthem.
Accordingly, I make this statement—‘The composition
consisting of the words and music known as
Janaganamana is the National Anthem of India subject
to such alterations in the words as Government may
authorise 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 Janaganamana and shall have equal status with
it.’ (p. 28)
    In 1986, objection to the Anthem was raised on
religious ground. Several students belonging to a sect
of Christanity, “Jehova’s Witness”, in Kerala sought
exemption from singing it on religious ground. As the
students refused to sing it, the school authorities
expelled them. They approached the High Court. If I
remember correctly, while the Kerala High Court
dismissed the plea of the students relying on Article
51A (a), which makes it mandatory to show respect to
both the National Flag and National Anthem, the
Supreme Court ruled that the action against the
students was violative of the fundamental rights to
freedom of conscience.
    Yet another controversy was raised it 1997 over
who set the tune of the National Anthem. Captain Ram
Singh, a former official of the Indian National Army,
claimed the credit saying that he did it under the
express order of Netaji. Even Dr Lakshmi Sehgal, a
close associate of Netaji in the INA, supported him.
But the debate that followed did not say which version
of the song—the Bengali or the Hindi (“Subh sukh
chain”)—all are talking about. While Captain Ram Singh
might have set the tune of the Hindi version, the
musical notations of the tune of Janaganamana as set
by Rabindranath himself was scripted according to the
Bhatkhande system by V.V. Wazalwar of Santiniketan.15
    w
    It is not for the first time that a controversy
has been raised over the inclusion or exclusion of the
geographical entities in the song. In 1927, in a
letter from Java (August 31), Rabindranath wrote:
    In the course of our history, India had once
deeply realised her geographical entity; she
established in her mind an image of her own physical
self by meditating on her rivers and hills ... In my
song of the victory of Bharat-vidhata composed a few
years ago, I have put together a number of Indian
rivers and hills; Vindhya-Himachala and Yamuna-Ganga
have also been mentioned. I feel, however, that a song
should be written in which all the provinces, rivers
and hills of India are strung together in order to
impress upon the minds of our people an idea of the
geography of our country. We are nowadays profuse in
the use of the term National Consciousness, but what
kind of national consciousness can there be, devoid of
actual geographical and ethnological realisation? (pp.
22-23)
    It is clear from the above letter that
Rabindranath was aware that all the geographical
entities could not be included in the song. On this
issue, Sen observed:
    It is seen here that according to Rabindranath the
song “Janganamana Adhinayaka” is a song of the victory
of Bharat-vidhata and is not meant to be an inventory
of geographical names. All the provinces, rivers and
hills are not, therefore, mentioned in the song, which
is intended only to portray India in her entirety. The
provinces left out have no reason to feel aggrieved.16
    Interestingly, the correspondence between
Jawaharlal Nehru and Gopinath Bardoloi, the then
Premier of the Assam Province, reveals that in July
1948, some people demonstrated before the Shillong
station of the AIR objecting to the adoption of
Janganamana as the National Anthem. According to
Bardoloi, apart from the sentimental adherance to
Vande Mataram, their main obection was to the absence
of the name of Assam.17
    I remember to have read a letter from a retired
senior Air Force officer published in an English daily
in October 1986, in which he revealed that when
Morarji Desai, the then Deputy Prime Minister, visited
a forward air base in Punjab in 1965, the writer
wanted to know the reasons for not modifying the
National Anthem dropping the name “Sindhu” and
substituting it with “Kashmir” . In reply, Desai
assured that suitable action would be taken soon.
    Recently, Ram Jethmalani, the noted jurist and a
former Law Minister, reportedly said that the word
“Sindhu” in the National Anthem represents a culture
and not a piece of land and wondered whether Pakistan
was behind the PIL filed in the Supreme Court!18 While
the issue of retention or deletion of the word
“Sindhu” has to be decided by the Apex Court, the
question remains whether the works of a dead author
could be changed. But perhaps what is in utmost need
of change is not the song itself but our approach to
it. n

    Notes and References

    [Unless otherwise indicated, the excerpts quoted
have been taken from the 1972 edition of India’s
National Anthem, by Prabodhchandra Sen (Ref. No. 2),
who was closely associated with Visva-Bharati from
1942 until his death in 1986. The page numbers are
given in parenthesis. Wherever available, the original
sources used by Sen are also given.]
    1. A Bengali translation was published in Ananda
Bazar Patrika (October 30, 1937); see Chittaranjan
Bandyopadhyay: Rabindra Prasanga, Anandabazar Patrika,
Calcutta, Ananda Publishers, 1995, pp. 533-34.

    2. Prabodhchandra Sen : India’s National Anthem,
Visva-Bharati, 1972, p. 57 (hereafter Sen 1).
    3. Prabodhchandra Sen: Bharat Pathik Rabindranath
[Rabindranath —The Traveller Along India’s Path],
Dey’s Publishing, Calcutta, 1983, pp. 211-231.
(hereafter Sen 2).
    4. Sen 1. p. 8.
    5. Ibid., p. 14.
    6. Ibid., p. 15.
    7. Ibid., p. 21.
    8. Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson:
Rabindranath—The Myriad-Minded Man, Rupa & Co.,
Calcutta, 2000, p. 61.
    9. Ibid.
    10. Sen 2, p. 218.
    11. Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, p. 161.
    12. Sen 2, p. 218. Chitralekha Siddhanta, wife of
Nirmal Siddhanta (a former Professor of Lucknow
University and Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta
University), herself was a distinguished singer of
Rabindrasangeet.
    13. Sen 2, pp. 221-22.
    14. Amrita Bazar Patrika (June 20, 1949) reported
it as “National Anthem Muddle”, while Jugantar
(Bengali) called it “Ignorance of a Foreign
Journalist” (June 19, 1949).
    15. Calcutta Municipal Gazette (23rd Anniversary
and In-dependence Commemoration Volume), 1947, pp.
77-81.
    16. Sen 1, p. 23.
    17. Collected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Second
Series), Vol 7, 1988, pp. 421-22.
    18. The New Indian Express (Hyderabad), January
16, 2005.


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