Some Interesting Facts About Our National Anthem

Keeping the spirit of patriotism alive let us take a look at some interesting facts about our national anthem.

 1. Jan Gana Man was composed by the bard of Bengal Rabindranath Tagore in the year 1905. He is the only composer in the world to have written national anthems for two countries- India and Bangladesh. The national anthem for Bangladesh is known as Amar Shonar Bangla.

The national anthem for Bangladesh is known as Amar Shonar Bangla.
Tagore

2. It was first sung in the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on 27th December 1911.
3. The song is composed in shankarabharanam ragam. This raga is a part of carnatic music and it’s Hindustani equivalent is bilawal.
4. The year of 1911 coincided with the visit of King George-V to India. So previously it was thought that the song commemorates the arrival of King’s arrival to India and is not much of a patriotic song.
5. There have been numerous rumours that Jana Gana Mana has been declared the best national anthem by UNESCO but this sort of report is hoax. And please don’t believe those WhatsApp forwards!!
Jana Gana Mana has been declared the best national anthem by UNESCO but this sort of report is hoax
Indian Flag

6. 52 seconds is the prescribed time to sing the national anthem.
7. There is no law as such which compels to sing the national anthem.
8. There was an uproar in Kashmir in the year 2005 to delete the word ‘sindh’ from the anthem and replace it with Kashmir on the grounds that Sindh is no longer a part of India. However the supreme court ruling held that word Sindh cannot be replaced because it will be against the spirit with which the anthem was composed. Sindh comprises of the population of people living in and around the Indus river and therefore the word Sindh cannot be deleted from the anthem.
9. The song was originally composed in Bengali. We sing the hindi version of it.
10. Originally the song ‘vande mataram’ composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was supposed to be the national anthem. But Jawaharlal Nehru chose Jana Gana Man over it because he believed that it would be convenient for the band to play it.
But remember…
Tagore’s view on patriotism
Tagore’s view on patriotism
JAI HIND!
*This article was originally published on Economy Decoded*

0 comments

Please share your thoughts