[Reader-list] Ameen Sayani on national anthem -1

[Ravikant]

Dear All

Thought this might be of interest in the context of discussions on the 
national anthem. The legendary 'radio-dost' Amin Sayani shared it with me 
some time back when I wrote to him thanking him for his Geetmala collection, 
produced in collaboration with HMV. I have copy-pasted from his attachment, 
keeping the formatting intact. Apologies for Caps in the original, or any 
loss of the emphases intended by Mr. Sayani. 

regards
ravikant

Ameen Sayani humbly proposes :

AN ANTHEM TO CURE
THE COMMUNICATIONS CRISIS

There came a time, not too long ago, when our newspapers and audio-visual news 
channels began reaching us each day “soaked in blood”.  (The expression is 
borrowed from a poem by Gulzaar : “Roz subha akhbaar meray ghar, khoon say 
lathpath aata hai.”)

Thankfully, the media rallied round to help us bear the mayhem, by padding the 
news with glamour and gaiety, sex and scintillation.  But what still 
faithfully filters through is the oppression, hunger and pain of the less 
privileged, the gradual breaking down of affordable infrastructure and 
security, the deadly spread of corruption, wastage, crime and ineptitude.

The problems are acute, and don’t have any simple answers.  But the fact that 
does emphatically emerge is that all our national “diseases” seem to have one 
common carrier : MIS-COMMUNICATION.

Have you ever given a thought to the confusion that prevails in virtually all 
the LAWS, CODES, RULES, NOTIFICATIONS, REGULATIONS, POLICY DECLARATIONS and 
NORMS that surround us in our social, economic, educational, agricultural, 
electoral, administrative and civic lives?  Many of these communications are 
fairly garbled and misleading, and specifying them would require heaps of 
books.  All that need be said about the all-pervading, mind-boggling 
confusion is that we can never be sure which straight, fair, honest, legal 
and moral path we can tread without getting tripped up and punished or 
cornered into paying a fine or a bribe.

You’ll find this kind of problematic communication everywhere – maybe in other 
countries, too.  Communication that says only partly what it means, or means 
something other than what it says.  Communication that is confusing even in 
its INITIAL FORMATION, and gets progressively incorrigible in TRANSLATION, 
INTERPRETATION and IMPLEMENTATION.

A most dangerous kind of Mis-communication being indulged in these days, comes 
garbed in pseudo-religious dogma.  Instead of dealing with negative events in 
a civilized manner and hunting for the actual original culprits, self-seeking 
individuals and mis-led groups excel in whipping up communal tempers – and 
encouraging rioting and other mis-demeanours that NO religion can ever permit 
or condone.  All this escalates into recurring retaliation in which innocent 
people are terrorized and slaughtered, and public life grinds to a halt.

For years I kept wondering whether there was a way to stimulate a national 
movement to clean up and clarify our various oceans  of  befuddling 
communication – a starting point lofty enough to stir up our patriotism with 
impetus and impact.  And, suddenly, the thought hit me like a thunderbolt : 
Why not seek the help of the song we have been singing with fervour since the 
forties – “JANAGANAMANA”, OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM ?

Having been born (in 1932) in a family involved with the freedom 
movement, “JANAGANAMANA” runs in my blood.  Not just its first antra – which 
became our National Anthem – but all its five glorious stanzas.  I was taught 
to sing the song with chest out and head held high – along with “VANDE 
MAATARAM” (our other official National Song) and all the other great songs of 
those eventful days, such as “SAARAY JAHAAN SAY ACHHA” and “JHANDA OONCHA 
RAHAY HAMARA”. 

 But as I crossed into adulthood, I gradually began to realize that our TWO 
MAIN NATIONAL SONGS were never clearly explained to us – and, even today, few 
people have any proper knowledge of their precise meaning !									
												


						… 2 …

Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s VANDE MAATARAM, though having a magnificent 
patriotic background, and beautifully descriptive words, was totally in 
Sanskrit – or “Sanskritised Bengali”, as I later learnt – and only a very few 
of its beautiful words could be understood by any average Indian. There was 
also an unfortunate controversy attached to it, concerning the “bowing” 
and “praying” to someone other than God, which perhaps made it awkward for 
some factions to accept as secular India’s national anthem. (This hint of 
unsuitability was officially acknowledged even as far back as in 1937, when 
an Indian National Congress Sub-Committee – consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru, 
Abul Kalaam Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose and Narendra Dev, in consultation with 
Tagore – recommended that people may be given “perfect freedom …… to sing any 
other song of an un-objectionable character in addition to, or in place of, 
Vande Maataram”.)

Actually, even here it was perhaps the communication that had caused the 
problem.  Had the song been rendered into simple Hindustani, and had the full 
meaning of the Sanskrit song also been clearly explained to all from the very 
beginning, it may have been accepted without confusion or resentment.  
Sincere, fair and explicit explanation and mutual adjustment usually 
smoothens all implementation – unilateral foisting is bound to generate 
unnecessary opposition.  (A similar recent mis-communication has resulted in 
an excellent yogic exercise, “Surya Namaskar”, being rejected by some 
factions who saw it as just a religious prayer format !)

Tagore’s JANAGANAMANA had many more words one could relate with – especially 
in the symbolic (and therefore much abridged and incomplete) geographic 
references in the first antra, and the seven main religions of India (“Hindu, 
Boudh, Sikh, Jain, Paarsik, Musalmaan, Khristaani”) in the second stanza.  
Moreover, the lyrics sounded magnificent, and their rhyming and rhythm lent 
themselves excellently to what is perhaps one of the most inspiring Anthem 
tunes in the world.

But even my favourite Janaganamana wasn’t free of controversy.  There was a 
ridiculous complaint, still often recurring, that our revered Gurudev 
Rabindranath Tagore had originally sung it in praise of the British Emperor!  
Tagore had himself rubbished this in no uncertain terms:  “I should only 
insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such 
unbounded stupidity!”

However, as a lover of Tagore and of my Anthem, I finally decided that it was 
my own duty to try and understand why the preposterous controversy had 
arisen, and what events led to the song being finally welcomed as our Anthem.  
Two questions particularly needed urgent clarification :

a)Whom precisely was the poet addressing as “Janaganamana Adhinaayak” (Ruler 
of Peoples’ Minds/Hearts), “Bhaarata Bhaagya Vidhaata” (Dispenser of India’s 
Destiny) and “Mangaldaayak” (Giver of Prosperity/Well-being) – for the “Jai” 
(Victory) of whom the song is sung ?  (Believe me, I’ve asked almost a 
hundred people in various walks of life, and got just vague answers.) 
b)How could a nation ever expect clarity in its communications – when it had, 
for over half a century, been singing even its National Anthem without 
knowing what the song was precisely communicating ? (Vande Maataram has been 
problematic for another reason  – people have often been forced to sing it as 
proof of their patriotism, without understanding hardly any of its words.)

I began discussing the issue with a number of people, and acquired some 
crucial, relevant publications (listed at the end of this note). And I’m 
offering to my countrymen – with head bowed – the fascinating facts that I 
discovered, as a prelude to my daring but long over-due request and 
invitation :

												


						…. 3 ….

“LET’S GET TOGETHER AND SEE IF WE COULD – AFTER FULLY UNDERSTANDING 
THE BACKGROUND AND CONTENT OF “JANAGANAMANA” – ALSO LOOK FOR ANOTHER GREAT 
SONG IN OUR TRADITIONAL ARCHIVES.  A SONG THAT COULD BE MOULDED INTO A 
TOTALLY COMPREHENDABLE AND ACCEPTABLE NATIONAL ANTHEM – TO REFLECT THE 
ASPIRATIONS OF ALL INDIANS, AND PROVIDE THE SPRINGBOARD FROM WHICH TO BEGIN 
CURING THE NATION’S COMMUNICATIONS CRISIS.”

Firstly, let’s take a brief look at the history behind our National Anthem: 

A.WHEN TAGORE WROTE “JANAGANAMANA”, AT LEAST 37 YEARS BEFORE INDEPENDENCE, HE 
NEVER INTENDED IT TO BE A NATIONAL SONG.

It was first published under the sub-title “Brahmo Sangeet” (Divine 
Music/Songs), and later included in Tagore’s collection of religious hymns, 
entitled “Dharma Sangeet”.  So it was obviously a hymn to GOD, and the “Jai 
Hey” refrain was sung to the VICTORY (or GLORY) of GOD who was the “Dispenser 
of India’s Destiny” – not directly to the Victory (or Glory) of India itself.

B. THE “ORIGINALLY SUNG FOR THE BRITISH EMPEROR” CONFUSION AROSE BECAUSE SOME 
NEWSPAPERS HAD MIS-REPORTED THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 28TH SESSION OF THE 
CONGRESS IN 1911.

There were two songs sung at the session : a PATRIOTIC HYMN (“Janaganamana”) 
and a SONG OF WELCOME TO GEORGE V.  Some newspapers confused one for the 
other (probably because some of the epithets of God included in the song may  
have been confused as referring to the British Emperor !),  
and “Janaganamana” was unfairly maligned.  Many attempts were made thereafter 
to correct the mistake – but the clarification was obviously not recorded 
strongly enough to become perpetually remembered history.

C.THE HIGH-POWERED 1937 CONGRESS SUB-COMMITTEE FOR FINALISING THE NATIONAL 
ANTHEM (referred to earlier in this note) HAD ALSO BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE 
THAT : “ONLY SUCH SONGS AS ARE COMPOSED IN SIMPLE HINDUSTANI, OR CAN BE 
ADAPTED TO IT……. SHOULD BE ACCEPTED BY THE SUB-COMMITTEE FOR EXAMINATION.”

Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s “Saaray Jahaan Say Achha” had been in existence for 
over 20 years then, and was already one of India’s most beloved national 
songs. I could not find any record of whether the Committee had examined its 
feasibility as our Anthem.  Perhaps its language – with many Persian-Arabic 
words – was not considered “Hindustani” enough, and it therefore couldn’t 
overtake the Sanskrit-Bengali “Janaganamana” and “Vande Maataram.” (Two more 
truly “Hindustani” songs did appear a little later in the pre-Independence 
days. Both of them, and “Saaray Jahaan Say Achha”, are discussed later in 
this note.)


D.EVEN WHEN NEHRU  MET  TAGORE IN SHANTINIKETAN IN 1939 (two years 
before the latter’s death) AND REQUESTED HIM TO WRITE INDIA’S 
ANTHEM, “JANAGANAMANA” WAS NOT CONSIDERED FOR THE ROLE.

Was it the earlier unfair “sung for the British Emperor” controversy that was 
worrying both of them ?  No one can really tell – but it is recorded that 
Tagore had, for a “maaghotsav” function, once changed some of the epithets 
used in his song, such as inserting “Maanav Bhaagya Vidhaata” (Dispenser of 
Humanity’s Destiny) instead of “Bhaarat Bhaagya Vidhaata”.
							
...continued in the next post