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General Is This True? Jan Gan Mann Is In Praise Of King George V?

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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I received the following in an email from an Indian... Read on..

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 The 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, nconscious 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 it.

As has been done the past sixty 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.

Any comments from Indians ?
 

AusDesi

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Jul 18, 2009
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Ye old news. The problem is Nehru being the extreme secular that he was would not allow Vande Mataram becoming the national anthem. Vande Mataram is still opposed by Muslims. In addition, relating to this forum might also be against Sikh beliefs.
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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Forget about Vande Matram..for the nmoment...are the things mentioned about jann gann mann TRUE ? Is it about King george V ? or India as a Democratic Independent Nation ??
Are 1 Billion Indians being made to sing the Praises of a British Monarch long dead ??:shy::shy:
 

Archived_Member_19

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oh

and why is this topic posted in Interfaith dialog?

am i missing some hidden agenda here?

how is India's Anthem linked even remotely to Sikh Philosophy and Interfaith dialogues
 

spnadmin

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No hidden agenda. The poster was not attending to the forum when he posted. It is now in General Discussions.
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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my mistake jios...
I didnt realise that the "post" goes to the same section that I was reading earlier...on hindsight i now remember Aman Ji also querying why a certain article ( also mine) was in a section not meant for that type of post..it still didnt strike me...as to my mistake..
I ususally have multiple windows open as well as my own archives and while reading IF a certain post/article/idea comes into mind..i just click NEW ARTICLE and paste my post there...thats how these errors happened. Sorry..and yes there is no hidden or "unhidden"/Tinted/"untinted".... agenda.
I will be more careful in future..
 

spnadmin

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Gyani ji

I don't think you need to apologize. Moderation is supposed to help out in these situations.

Narayanjot Kaur
 

AusDesi

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Jul 18, 2009
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Forget about Vande Matram..for the nmoment...are the things mentioned about jann gann mann TRUE ? Is it about King george V ? or India as a Democratic Independent Nation ??
Are 1 Billion Indians being made to sing the Praises of a British Monarch long dead ??:shy::shy:
Who knows? I think its about the essence of the country as a whole. It actually is not possible for this song to capture modern day India as this was written before the independence. I think Vande Mataram was perfect in that regards.

Personally the only problem is the word Adhinayak. Other than that its fine. Punjab Sindh Gujrat and Maratha were/are major parts of India.

That article is wrong on many counts. First of all, nearly all of Gujarat was under Princely rule. Large parts of Dravida were also under Princely rule. Utkala(orrissa) was majority under Princely rule.

On the other hand, There was no Rajasthan then. Rajputana was a bunch of petty warring kingdoms who hated each other as much as the brits.

Large parts of Vindhyas(central India) and Himachal were also part of princely states. Also, Im pretty sure there was no Himachal at the time and that is meant to indicate the mountainous regions.

The only major parts that are left are North-east, Kashmir and Rajasthan. Kashmir historically is not one region. Same is true for the North-East. Rajasthan should be included instead of Sindh.

Yamuna and Ganga mostly cover the Hindi belt.

Adhinayak is the only problem. I am not an expert on Hindi. Its possible that this word can be applied to the president of India. but don't quote me on that. I am sure that the people who made it the national anthem were smart enough to know why they made it the national anthem. They saw it as a hymm for god than George V. Bharata Bhagya Vidata - God of India's destiny. Vidhata is a word used in Hindi for god.
 

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