This is interesting. .....


"Jana Gana Mana" - Just a thought for the National Anthem! How well do you know about it?

I have always wondered who is the " adhinayak"and"bharat bhagya vidhata",whose praise we are singing.. I thought might be Motherland India ! 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 Pandit 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 or Kerala.

Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was 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 that glorify the King: First stanza: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. (Tava shubha name jaage; tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)

Second stanza :Around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.


Third stanza: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond misery.

Fourth 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.

Fifth 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? The poem does not indicate that.

It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing 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 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! Shouldn't Vande Mataram be our National Anthem. Come Join together to put Vande Mataram as our National Anthem.

"Vande maataraM
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM
SasyashyaamalaaM maataram ||
 
Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM
pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM ||
 
 Koti koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaale
koti koti bhujai.rdhR^itakharakaravaale
abalaa keno maa eto bale
bahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiM
ripudalavaariNiiM maataraM ||
 
 Tumi vidyaa tumi dharma
tumi hR^idi tumi marma 
tvaM hi praaNaaH shariire
 
Baahute tumi maa shakti
hR^idaye tumi maa bhakti
tomaara i pratimaa gaDi
mandire mandire ||

TvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNii
kamalaa kamaladala vihaariNii
vaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM

Namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM
SujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM ||
 
ShyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM
DharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM |"

 
  Translation by Shree Aurobindo
Mother, I bow to thee!   
Rich with thy hurrying streams,   
bright with orchard gleams,   
Cool with thy winds of delight,   
Dark fields waving Mother of might,   
Mother free.   

Glory of moonlight dreams,   
Over thy branches and lordly streams,   
 Clad in thy blossoming trees,   
Mother, giver of ease   
Laughing low and sweet!   
Mother I kiss thy feet,   
Speaker sweet and low!   
Mother, to thee I bow.   

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands   
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands   
And seventy million voices roar   
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?   
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,   
To thee I call Mother and Lord!   
Though who savest, arise and save!   
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove   
Back from plain and Sea   
And shook herself free.   
     
Thou art wisdom, thou art law, 
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath 
Though art love divine, the awe 
In our hearts that conquers death. 
Thine the strength that nervs the arm, 
Thine the beauty, thine the charm. 
Every image made divine 
In our temples is but thine. 
 
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen, 
With her hands that strike and her 
swords of sheen, 
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned, 
And the Muse a hundred-toned, 
Pure and perfect without peer, 
Mother lend thine ear, 
Rich with thy hurrying streams, 
Bright with thy orchard gleems, 
Dark of hue O candid-fair 

In thy soul, with jewelled hair 
And thy glorious smile divine, 
Lovilest of all earthly lands, 
Showering wealth from well-stored hands! 
Mother, mother  mine! 
Mother sweet, I bow to thee, 
Mother great and free! 
 

Nice thread Bekarar Ji...Aaj 10-12 din baad yahan aayi hoon.....padh ke achcha laga...

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