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> National Anthem Controversy, Jana Gana Mana vs. Bande Mataram
amardeep
post Sep 15 2004, 03:50 AM
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(This is a recent post from my blog)

A really informative piece by Pradip Kumar Datta has just been posted on SACW, on the history of India's national anthem. The current anthem is Rabindranath Tagore's "Jana Gana Mana." (See the entry at Wikipedia for the text and translation of the song)

The Hindu right has been casting aspersions on it recently (Datta cites Sadhvi Rithambara's "hate cassette" as well as websites like www.freeindia.org). The reason: it was composed by Tagore on the occasion of King George V's visit to the Indian National Congress in 1911. Tagore was famously ambivalent about the commission, and wrote the song as he did as an act -- he thought -- of subversion. But I suppose it's also possible to say that the song, written to celebrate the visit of the English king, loses some autonomy through that history. Still, the details are worth pursuing, and the virtue of Datta's article is that he we went back and read the original coverage of the event in the English-language press of the day:

QUOTE
The confusion about the song was stirred up by the ineptness of the pro-British Anglo-Indian press. Their inefficiency was not surprising (The Sunday Times once ascribed the authorship of Bande Mataram to Tagore and described Jana Gana Mana as a Hindi song!) On this occasion the Anglo-Indian press -- led by The Englishman - almost uniformly reported that a Tagore song had been sung to commemorate George V's visit to India. The reports were based on understandable ignorance since the Anglo-Indian press had neither the linguistic abilities nor the interest to be accurate. Actually, two songs that had been sung that day. The Jana Gana Mana had been followed by a Hindi song composed specially for George V by Rambhuj Chaudhary. There was no real connection between the composition of the Jana Gana Mana and George V, except that the song was sung -- not written - at an event which also felicitated the king. The Anglo-Indian press [luckily for Hindutva enthusiasts and unfortunately for secularists!] heard Indian songs much in the way they looked at foreign faces: they were all the same!

In short, the English press was clueless, but that cluelessness might have actually slowed the adaptation of the song amongst Indian nationalists. Whatever the case, eventually the song would become strongly identified with the nationalist movement. It was even eventually adapted by Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. You can't get more nationalist than that.

The critics of "Jana Gana Mana" would prefer to see it replaced by "Bande Mataram," also sometimes spelled "Vande Mataram," composed by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay,also sometimes spelled as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. "Bande Mataram" (see the song here, with translation by the poet Sri Aurobindo) treats India as a Goddess to be worshipped. It was demoted from official anthem status, Dutta says, because orthodox Indian Muslims (probably also Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, and Christians) would have had a hard time worshipping a "Goddess" of any form, even if, in the song, the "Mataram" isn't named as specifically Hindu.

[And if that's sexism, well, it probably is -- religions tend to be pretty sexist. But keep in mind that woman-as-Goddess isn't always a pro-feminist image -- it depends what kind of Goddess. But I digress.]

Finally, Datta makes a great point about the differences in the image of India in the two anthems:

QUOTE
But there is also an underlying reason that is really responsible for the controversy popping up at regular intervals. The words of Bande Mataram feature India as a homogeneous Hindu nation. Jana Gana Mana evokes the country as composed of a multiplicity of regions and communities united in a prayer to a universal lord. After all, Bande Mataram was composed by a colonial administrator who could only visualize the nation in Hindu terms: religious identity was the only available idiom for conceptualizing the nation then. In contrast, Tagore had seen the riots that broke up the Swadeshi movement and had divined the obvious: religious nationalism easily divided anti-colonial struggles. Jana Gana Mana can be seen as one of the fruits of Tagore's search to find an alternate inclusivist definition for the nation. Incidentally, it was one of the harbingers of a decade that was to see Hindu and Muslim politicians draw together. In short, the two songs embody different ideas, histories and aspirations of the country.


Well said.

Personally, I prefer Mohammed Iqbal's "Sare Jahan se Achcha." I find it easiest to understand (after all, the other two are Bengali songs originally), and easier to sing than either of the others.
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amardeep   National Anthem Controversy   Sep 15 2004, 03:50 AM
ajit   Amardeep, I am kinda curious about the reading of ...   Sep 15 2004, 06:16 AM
arnab   ajit, perhaps the song can now be separated from...   Sep 15 2004, 06:35 AM
arnab   by the way, the entire translation is here   Sep 15 2004, 09:10 AM
ajit   I haven't read (or know much about) the orig...   Sep 15 2004, 09:16 AM
arnab   I haven't read (or know much about) the orig...   Sep 15 2004, 09:47 AM
Swati   Anyone who's familiar with Jana Gana Mana in i...   Sep 15 2004, 09:56 AM
arnab   and here's a link to a piece in frontline whic...   Sep 15 2004, 10:05 AM
ajit   Arnab, thanks for the link to the Frontline extrac...   Sep 15 2004, 10:39 AM
arnab   here's the link again: http://intyoga.bravepag...   Sep 15 2004, 10:53 AM
ajit   Hmmm... maybe some terminology to remove lingering...   Sep 15 2004, 11:08 AM
arnab   i didn't understand that that was what you w...   Sep 15 2004, 11:13 AM
arnab   not to go completely off-topic here but does anyon...   Sep 15 2004, 11:22 AM
ajit   Sadhvi Rithambara (and *her* buddies) are looking ...   Sep 15 2004, 11:29 AM
roshna   Musically speaking, I've never been crazy abou...   Sep 15 2004, 04:00 PM
amardeep   Wow, quite a number of comments. Arnab, thanks for...   Sep 15 2004, 07:33 PM
Pratima   Not that this is relevant to the topic but it m...   Sep 15 2004, 08:06 PM
Dilliwala Dilwala   What should be important to note is that the recen...   Sep 16 2004, 12:42 AM
samir   I think DD is talking about "Vande Mataram - ...   Sep 16 2004, 09:39 AM
Dilliwala Dilwala   Yeah, Samir, that was the one I was alluding to, ...   Sep 16 2004, 07:45 PM
Jai Malhar   I have never heard the Durga lines in a Vande Mata...   Sep 16 2004, 09:55 PM
arnab   how about "mera joota hai japani"?   Sep 16 2004, 09:59 PM
Dilliwala Dilwala   Achtung Arnab! I am sending a copy of your pro...   Sep 16 2004, 10:16 PM
arnab   dilwala, as long as you make it clear that i am re...   Sep 16 2004, 10:19 PM
Dilliwala Dilwala   am not sure it would cut much ice with them, arnab...   Sep 16 2004, 10:31 PM
Jai Malhar   I have to say though that although the lyrics of J...   Sep 16 2004, 11:19 PM
samir   I am quoting from an email I had written to someo...   Sep 17 2004, 06:42 AM
Pratibha   How about `Vijayee Vishwa Tirangaa Pyaraa JhanDaa...   Sep 18 2004, 12:14 AM
poorvi   while we are at it, we might as well add "chi...   Sep 18 2004, 10:43 PM
ajit   If they should be passe why do they give you goose...   Sep 19 2004, 12:15 AM
Pratibha   Poorvi, actually Jana Gana Mana was always assoc...   Sep 19 2004, 12:34 AM
gingerly   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/856...   Sep 20 2004, 08:52 PM
Pratima   Although it was never a contestant for the natioan...   Sep 20 2004, 10:29 PM
ajit   Intersting. When I was in school, I remember bei...   Sep 20 2004, 11:51 PM
samir   Intersting. When I was in school, I remember bei...   Sep 21 2004, 05:39 AM
ajit   Samir, the original is 'Punjab, Sindh, Gujrat,...   Sep 21 2004, 07:01 AM
poorvi   re: why national anthems give me goosebumps if the...   Sep 21 2004, 07:14 AM
ajit   Poorvi, this sort of thing should start at home. D...   Sep 21 2004, 07:43 AM
poorvi   Do you have a family song?   Sep 21 2004, 07:45 AM
ajit   Sorry I must have misunderstood. Do you just have ...   Sep 21 2004, 07:49 AM
samir   Ajit--by original if you mean the original Bengal...   Sep 21 2004, 08:45 AM
poorvi   I have a problem with an official song that is u...   Sep 22 2004, 09:27 AM
arnab   http://in.news.yahoo.com/040927/43/2gyvx.html   Sep 27 2004, 10:12 PM
poorvi   You would think they might have practised it ahead...   Sep 28 2004, 12:27 AM
ajit   Maybe they are taking a leaf out of Poorvi's b...   Sep 28 2004, 12:43 AM
poorvi   Well, at least they should have sung *something* -...   Sep 28 2004, 01:00 AM
Jai Malhar   Tribalism is human nature. The other side of ...   Oct 4 2004, 07:48 PM
poorvi   I guess my point is that rootedness does not have ...   Oct 6 2004, 02:09 AM
ajit   Supreme court decision regarding 'Sindh' i...   Jan 3 2005, 11:53 PM
Tryska   why is it that the right wing, no matter what cult...   Jan 4 2005, 07:41 PM
Pranesh   Supreme Court has not so far given its decision ...   Jan 6 2005, 03:36 PM
gautam   Adding a metaphysical ground for objection: The s...   Jan 7 2005, 08:12 AM
gingerly   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/985...   Jan 10 2005, 11:08 PM
ajit   Bhatnagar should consider objecting to the word ...   Jan 11 2005, 02:54 AM
Pranesh   It is very obvious that the argument behind the su...   Jan 11 2005, 02:13 PM
gingerly   http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1223245,001...   Feb 2 2005, 01:40 AM
poorvi   It is now *before* the film. I think it was intr...   Feb 3 2005, 09:15 AM
gingerly   http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_12...01600...   Feb 9 2005, 05:21 AM
gingerly   get a move on   Mar 8 2005, 04:00 AM
vAtraT   Don't know if it's gauche to resurrect an ...   Mar 9 2005, 08:35 AM
vAtraT   Oh I want to address another part of this conversa...   Mar 9 2005, 08:54 AM
Anjali   Would it be Bhimsen Joshi's singing that give...   Mar 9 2005, 09:01 AM
vAtraT   Anjali: Much music gives me goosebumps -- Western ...   Mar 9 2005, 11:20 AM
Anjali   Vatrat, Hey nice to meet another believer-- rat...   Mar 9 2005, 11:54 AM
ajit   Perhaps it is possible not to be a believer and st...   Mar 9 2005, 12:27 PM
Anjali   ditto. Anjali   Mar 9 2005, 12:33 PM
Jai Malhar   A leftist activist friend of mine expressed a s...   Apr 4 2005, 04:56 AM
ajit   Actually the differences are very minor. Marxism...   Apr 4 2005, 05:25 AM
vAtraT   Most people are impressed by goodness -- talent, v...   Apr 4 2005, 05:44 AM
Anjali   Actually the differences are very minor. Marxism...   Apr 4 2005, 05:51 AM
arnab   yes, i've often said that "pyar kiya to ...   Apr 4 2005, 07:54 AM
Sharika   As an Indian, who has not become an American cit...   Apr 4 2005, 10:23 PM
Manish   All this talk of "Saare jahaan se achcha...   Apr 5 2005, 02:41 AM
Jai Malhar   Arrey Arnabbhai, we're not so hung up on secul...   Apr 5 2005, 04:21 AM
Swati   Just wanted to make a trivial point about my perso...   Apr 5 2005, 05:37 AM
ajit   vAtraT, don't mean to dwell on this but there ...   Apr 6 2005, 12:47 AM
samir   Swati, Unfortunately, I do not have the English ...   Apr 8 2005, 09:23 AM
Sharika   Thank you samir for the entire janagana. There a...   Apr 14 2005, 02:03 PM
ajit   For speculations concerning human goodness, ethica...   Oct 11 2005, 12:34 AM
Trips   This made its way into my inbox today. Did anyone ...   Jul 13 2006, 05:15 AM
shrikar   Trips , Thank you for that edification - even tho...   Jul 13 2006, 05:46 AM
vAtraT   Old controversy, Trips. Plenty on the internet. ...   Jul 13 2006, 05:58 AM
Trips   Trips , Where do you buy Big Pee unbrellas !...   Jul 13 2006, 06:36 AM
shrikar   Trips, Ah , mon amie vous etes bien droll !...   Jul 13 2006, 07:13 AM
Mukta Sunit   OK, this one does not come close to "Saare ja...   Jul 13 2006, 09:29 AM
vAtraT   ...lasting impressions in our collective psyche.....   Jul 13 2006, 09:45 AM
Mukta Sunit   melo-melo-melo -dramatic too ;) aakhir passport ...   Jul 13 2006, 10:17 AM
Swati   > >> Following is a translation of the f...   Jul 13 2006, 12:50 PM
shahpar   i'm sure everybody has seen the wiki article a...   Jul 13 2006, 03:30 PM
Swati   Thanks for the link Shahpar. Very true, and plainl...   Jul 13 2006, 10:20 PM
samir   For the life of me, I cannot remember the poem, b...   Jul 13 2006, 11:20 PM
shahpar   For the life of me, I cannot remember the poem, ...   Jul 13 2006, 11:34 PM
samir   Tagore actually had a history of being subversive...   Jul 14 2006, 09:43 AM
vAtraT   To me, both versions of the story seem credible. S...   Jul 13 2006, 11:54 PM
Trips   Trips, this is quite possibly the worst paraphras...   Jul 14 2006, 05:11 AM
hima   The Madanapalle connection Apparently, an English...   Jul 14 2006, 08:41 AM
Swati   hardly unwarranted! i cant think of anybody...   Jul 14 2006, 08:50 AM
Swati   Swati, could it be "Prayashchitta"? In...   Jul 14 2006, 09:24 PM
samir   Swati--found it!! And you are absolutely r...   Jul 15 2006, 08:07 AM
Swati   Swati--found it!! And you are absolutely ...   Jul 15 2006, 06:51 PM
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