BE PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

Our beloved National Anthem ”Jana Gana Mana” written and composed by Sri Rabindra Nath Tagore has been chosen as the World’s Best National Anthem by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Jana Gana Mana written in Sanskritised Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

It was first sung at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress,on 27 December 1911. Jana Gana Mana was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem on January 24, 1950. The music for the “current version” is said to be derived from a composition for the song by Ram Singh Thakur, although some dispute this.

A formal rendition of the national anthem takes about forty-eight to fifty-two seconds.

The first stanza consists of the full version of the national anthem. It reads:

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata
Punjab-Sindhu-Gujarata-Maratha-
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga
Tava shubha name jage
Tava shubha ashish maange
Gahe tava jaya-gatha
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he !

Playing time of the full version of the National Anthem is approximately 52 seconds. A short version consisting of first and last lines of the stanza (playing time approx. 20 seconds) is also played on certain occasions. The following is Tagore's English rendering of this stanza:

Thou art the rulers of the minds of all people,
dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Yamuna and
Ganga and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
thou dispenser of India's destiny,
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India!"

- Romaine Rolland