JIS DESH KA NATIONAL ANTHEM HI ANGREJO KI TARIF MEIN LIKHA HO

Gaurav Sachdeva

DOSTON JIS DESH KA NATIONAL ANTHEM HI ANGREJO KI TARIF MEIN LIKHA HO - US DESH KA TO BHAGWAN HI MALIK HAI . JO LOG SEENA TAAN KE JAN MAN GAN GAAATE HAIN AUR JINKO NATIONAL ANTHEM KA MATLAB NAHIN PATA . WO ISEY POORA PADEY AAJ KE BAAD AAP APNE NATIONAL ANTHEM PAR KHADE BHI NAHIN HOGE

Indian National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the country. Did youknow the following about our national anthem? I didn't. I have always wondered who is the "adhinayak" and "bharat bhagyavidhata",whose praise we are singing. I thought it might be God!

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 Pundit 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 which glorify the King:

1st stanza - (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories.

2nd stanza - around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.

3rd stanza - Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travellers beyond misery.

4th 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.

5th 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.