In 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram as the national anthem and national song of independent India, respectively. Whereas the national anthem of India was written by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, the national song was penned down by famous 19th-century Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in Sanskrit.
“The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words as the Government may authorize as occasion arises; and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honored equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it”, pronounced Dr.Rajendra Prasad, the presiding member of the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950.
Though both of these patriotic verses are deeply rooted in India’s struggle for freedom from the British colonial rule, there are at least 4 things that distinguish between the two.
1. Original composition
Jana Gana Mana
- The heavily Sanskritised Bengali poem Bharat Bhagya Bidhata, consisting of 5 stanzas was first published in Tatwabodhini Patrika, the official magazine of Adi Brahmo Samaj in February 1905. Tagore himself was then the Editor of the Kolkata-based magazine, started by his father Maharshi Devendranath Tagore.
- The first stanza of the poem was taken to be the National Anthem of independent India.
- Constitutionally, the circumstantial specification of the formal rendition of the Anthem is a duration of 52 seconds among others.
Listen to the complete version of India’s national anthem in this video
Vande Mataram
- The poem, originally consisting of six Sanskrit stanzas written in Bengali script, was published in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Anandamath in 1882. The novel premised on the backdrop of the 18th-century Sannyasi Rebellion that took place in Bengal against the rule of British East India Company.
- Only the initial two verses of the poem stand out to become the National Song of the country.
- Despite being granted the equal status as the Anthem, the National Song does neither feature in the Constitution nor specify any durational limit.
2. Historical significance
Jana Gana Mana
- The poem was first publicly performed on 27 December 1911, the second day of the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and consequently, at the annual event of Adi Brahmo Samaj in January 1912.
- The music score was composed in 1918 by Dinendranath Tagore, grandson of Rabindranath Tagore’s eldest brother.
- Tagore himself had first publicly sung the song on February 28, 1919, during a session in Besant Theosophical College in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh. Upon the request of the vice-principal of the college, on the same day, Tagore translated the poem into English as The Morning Song of India. The translation was adopted as the prayer song of the college.
- “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 11 September 1942, a German orchestra played for the first time Tagore’s song as India’s national anthem”, writes historian Sugata Bose.
- The song was chosen to be the national anthem of India during the inauguration of the Free India Centre in Europe on November 2, 1942.
- On the attainment of freedom at midnight on August 15 of 1947, the Constituent Assembly of India unanimously performed Jana Gana Mana for the first time as a sovereign body at the end of the session.
- It was first played as an orchestral arrangement in 1947 in the United Nations in New York and was significantly cherished.
Vande Mataram
- It was first publicly sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Calcutta. He, in fact, composed the music score of the song himself. Consequently, it was sung again at INC sessions of 1901 and 1905 in Calcutta and Banaras, respectively.
- The song is historically rooted in the movements of India’s freedom struggle. It became the marching song against the British rulers during the partition of Bengal in 1905. Not only did the British ban the song but also the novel Anandamath containing it. Freedom fighters continued defying the ban and using Vande Mataram as the political chant against the British.
- The first version of the Indian national flag designed by Bikaji Cama in 1907 in Germany had Vande Mataram inscribed on it.
3. Adoption controversy
Jana Gana Mana
The anti-Jana Gana Mana rhetoric in the political sphere largely stems from the confusion owing to the purpose of writing the song. The 1911 INC session, where it was first performed, was also significant for felicitating George V due to his announcement of the annulment of Bengal’s partition of Bengal and commemorating the triumph of the Swadeshi movement.
“The confusion about the song was stirred up by the ineptness of the pro-British Anglo-Indian press… 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”, writes Prof. Pradip Kumar Dutta.
Vande Mataram
In 1937, a Congress sub-committee comprising of Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Acharya Narendra Deva in consultation with Rabindranath Tagore was appointed to adjudge the appropriateness of the song as the National Anthem. The committee though deemed fit the patriotic nature of the first two stanzas of the song did not approve of the rest of the poem for singing.
Whereas the first two stanzas of the national song invoked unequivocal devotion and admiration of the mother and motherland, in the consequent stanzas it mentions Hindu goddess Durga. As it faced considerable opposition from the prominent Muslim leaders and defied the diversity of faiths across the country, it was rather chosen as the National Song. Though it is held at the same stature as the Anthem, the Anthem was required to be more inclusive in nature representing the spirit and diverse culture of the nation.
4. The essence of the meaning
Jana Gana Mana
“Jana Gana Mana evokes the country as composed of a multiplicity of regions and communities united in prayer to a universal lord”, remarks Prof. Pradip Kumar Dutta.
The song indeed offers “…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 succor to its suffering populace”, according to Sugata Bose.
“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”, he adds.
Vande Mataram
The national song of India is an ode to the motherland. Freedom fighter turned spiritual leader Shri Aurobindo translates Vande Mataram as ‘Mother, I praise thee’. The song exceptionally evokes and describes the picturesque beauty of the motherland.
Owing to the deep roots of these two songs in Indian history and culture, their importance is beyond doubt. Despite innumerable controversies surrounding these under a highly divisive and polarized political climate, the beauty and versatility of their lyrics are to be revered in the true spirit of their meanings.
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