A hundred and six years ago, on December 27, 1911, at the annual session of the Indian National Congress, Rabindranath Tagore’s freshly composed song “Jana Gana Mana” was performed, offering thanks for the divine benediction showered so generously on our country and our people. It had pleased Providence to guide Bharat’s destiny and to give succour to its suffering populace. The poet’s lyrics sang a paean to the expression of this divine glory that had many attributes — the “Janaganamangaldayak”, the Giver of grace, was at the same time the “Janagana-aikya-bidhayak” — the One who crafted unity out of India’s myriad religious and regional diversity. The eternal charioteer was also the “Janaganapathparichayak” — navigating for his followers a most difficult path.
Patan-abhyudaya-bandhur pontha, jug-jug dhabita jatri/ He Chirasarathi taba rathachakre mukharita path dinratri/ Darun biplab majhe taba shankhadhwani baje/ Sankatdukhhatrata.
The gender of this divinity is uncertain. The “janaganadukhatrayak” appears in feminine form. Duhswapne atanke raksha korile anke/ Snehamayee tumi Mata.
A song that so brilliantly fuses together an invocation to divine sovereignty with an intimation of popular sovereignty may seem with hindsight to have been a natural selection as a national anthem. Yet there is reason to ponder how Rabindranath Tagore, a patriot who was a powerful critic of nationalism, came to be accepted as the author of two national anthems of India and Bangladesh.
When Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose inaugurated the Free India Center in Europe on November 2, 1941 the green, saffron and white tricolour of the Indian National Congress was adopted as the national flag. “Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya He” was chosen by Netaji as the national anthem, a choice that would be ratified by the Indian constituent assembly after Independence. He had played a key role in resolving the controversy surrounding the later verses of the other song “Vande Mataram” in 1937. He was open to considering Muhammad Iqbal’s song “Sare Jahan Se Achha Hindustan Hamara”, proclaiming the excellence of India compared to the whole world, but in the end the decision was in favour of Tagore.
Dinendranath Tagore had written down the musical score of “Jana Gana Mana” in 1918. An elaborate orchestration of the song was done in Hamburg, Germany, in September 1942. On the occasion of the inauguration of the Deutsche-Indische Gesellschaft in Hamburg on September 11, 1942, a German orchestra played for the first time Tagore’s song as India’s national anthem. In 1971, Krishna Bose found the bill for the orchestration of “Jana Gana Mana” in the archives of Hamburg’s Rathaus. It had cost 750 Reichsmarks. Subhas Chandra Bose spoke of the bonds of poetry and philosophy between the two countries at the function. He did not neglect to mention how Tagore’s visits to Germany in the 1920s had strengthened cultural ties between the two countries.
Netaji made his final public appearance in Berlin at a big ceremony to observe Independence Day on January 26, 1943, before his epic submarine voyage to Asia. The independence pledge of the Indian National Congress was read out. Berlin’s Radio Orchestra played “Jana Gana Mana” as India’s national anthem with great panache. Those in India who listened clandestinely to the broadcasts of Azad Hind Radio were enthused to hear it.
The Azad Hind government proclaimed by Netaji in Singapore on October 21, 1943, inculcated a spirit of unity among all Indians with a subtle sense of purpose. “Jai Hind” was chosen from the very outset as the common greeting or salutation when Indians met one another. Hindustani, an admixture of Hindi and Urdu, written in the Roman script became the national language, but given the large south Indian presence, translation into Tamil was provided at all public meetings. A springing tiger, evoking Tipu Sultan of Mysore’s gallant resistance against the British, featured as the emblem on the tricolour shoulder-pieces on uniforms. Gandhi’s charkha continued to adorn the centre of the tri-colour flags that INA soldiers were to carry in their march towards Delhi.
A simple Hindustani version of Rabindranath Tagore’s song “Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jai He” became the national anthem. As a Bengali, Netaji went out of his way to ask Abid Hasan to get the national anthem rendered in the national language of India. The lyricist Mumtaz Hussain composed the Hindustani song in three verses rather than five and Ram Singh Thakur wrote down a band score based on the original tune. Mumtaz Hussain did not attempt a translation, but sought to capture the spirit of Tagore’s song. “Jaya he” naturally became “Jai Ho”, long before A.R. Rahman made “Jai Ho” famous the world over. The first verse that mentioned several place names bore a strong resemblance to the Bengali lyric. A comparison of the verses evoking unity gives a clear sense of the similarities and differences between the Bengali original and the Hindustani version.
Aharaha taba ahwan pracharita, shuni taba udar bani/ Hindu Bouddha Sikh Jaina Parasik Mussalman Christani/ Purab Pashchim ashe taba singhasan-pashe/ Premhar hoy gantha.
The Azad Hind version went thus: Sab ke dil me preeti basaye teri mithi bani/ Har sube ke rahne wale har mazhab ke prani/ Sab bhed aur pharak mitake sab god mein teri ake/ Gunthe prem ki mala.
In 1911 the British moved the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Little did our colonial masters know that in the same year a song had found utterance in this city that would find acknowledgement in Delhi as the national anthem once the tricolour replaced the Union Jack. But the song did not travel along the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Delhi. It traversed “Patan-Abhyudoy-Bandhur Pantha” — the entire global itinerary of India’s struggle for freedom — to eventually find its home in every Indian heart.
We can only speculate on how Tagore would have felt about the November 30 order compelling Indian citizens to stand to receive divine benediction for their country. But history has recorded Gandhi’s perspective on the matter. Soon after Independence and Partition, as “Vande Mataram” was sung at his prayer meeting on August 29, 1947, in Calcutta, Hindu and Muslim leaders on the stage, including Suhrawardy, stood up to show their respect along with the rest of the audience. Gandhi alone remained seated because he believed standing up as a mark of respect for a national song was an unnecessary Western import and was not a requirement of Indian culture.
