| Dear friends, This is what the Winkipedia says about the National Anthem: Historical significanceThe poem was composed in December 1911, precisely at the time of the Coronation Durbar of George V, and "Bharat Bhagya vidhata" and "Adhinayaka" is considered by some to be in praise of King George V and not God. The composition was first sung during a convention of the then loyalist Indian National Congress in Calcutta on Dec. 26, 1911.[2] It was sung on the second day of the convention, and the agenda of that day devoted itself to a loyal welcome of George V on his visit to India. The event was reported thus in the British Indian press:
Proposed arguments Many historians aver that the newspaper reports cited above were misguided. The confusion arose in British Indian press since a different song, "Badshah Humara" written in Hindi by Rambhuj Chaudhary [3], was sung on the same occasion in praise of the monarch. The nationalist Indian press stated this difference of events clearly:-
Even the report of the annual session of the Indian National Congress of December 1911 stated this difference:
On 10 November 1937 Tagore wrote a letter to Mr Pulin Bihari Sen about the controversy. That letter in Bengali can be found in Tagore's biography Ravindrajivani, volume II page 339 by Prabhatkumar Mukherjee.
Again in his letter of 19 March 1939 Tagore writes,
Moreover, Tagore was hailed as a patriot who wrote other songs too apart from "Jana gana Mana" lionizing the Indian independence movement.He renounced his knighthood in protest against the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The Knighthood i.e. the title of 'Sir' was conferred on him by the same King George V after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature for "Gitanjali" from the government of Sweden. Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear" :Gitanjali Poem#35) and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favoured by Gandhiji and Netaji. [edit]Literary interpretationsThe proponents of the controversy stress the usage of the following words and phrases to claim that Jana Gana Mana was written for the King and the Queen of England- Stanza 1: (Indian) People wake up remembering your (King George V's) good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. Proposed arguments The supporters of the nationalist message of Jana Gana Mana claim that "King","Throne" and "chariot" refer to the Almighty (for e.g. Lord Krishna from Bhagvad Gita) who will lead India to freedom. "Ma" on the other hand is more likely to refer to "The Motherland" i.e. India, than King George V's mother- The Queen. In Amar Sonar Bangla, the national anthem of Bangladesh, Tagore has used the word "ma" and "mata" numerous times to refer to the motherland. In his deeply mystic book "Gitanjali" (an offering of songs to the God) Tagore has used the same metaphor of God as "King":-
The following phrases ignored by the proponents of the King George V controversy strengthen credibility of Jana Gana Mana's patriotic message:- Stanza 1:"Jana gana mangaldayako" The saving of all people waits in thy hand. Saving from what? Obviously British imperialism. [edit]Regional aspectsAnother controversy is that only those provinces that were under British rule, i.e. Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha etc. were mentioned. None of the princely states - Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore or Kerala - or the states in North-East India, which are integral parts of India now, were mentioned. Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was included, since they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time. But opponents of this proposition claim that Tagore mentioned only the borders states of India to include complete India. Whether the princely states would form a part of a liberated Indian republic was a matter of debate even till Indian Independence. 'Dravida' includes the people from the south and 'Jolodhi' (Stanza 1) is Sanskrit for "seas and oceans". Even North-East which was under British rule or holy rivers apart from Ganges and Yamuna are not mentioned to keep the song in its rhythm. India has 28 states, 7 union territories. In 2005, there were calls to delete the word "Sindh" and substitute it with the word Kashmir. The argument was that Sindh was no longer a part of India, having become part of Pakistan as a result of the Partition of 1947. Opponents of this proposal hold that the word "Sindh" refers to the Indus and to Sindhi culture, and that Sindhi people are an integral part of India's cultural fabric. The Supreme Court of India declined to change the national anthem and the wording remains unchanged. --- On Wed, 28/12/11, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Re: [HumJanenge] Re: Shocking facts about our National Anthem !!!
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