Explained: What is the Beating Retreat

New Delhi, Jan 24: Ancient Indian sources speak of sounding the drums after the Day's battle to indicate a halt in fighting and withdrawal of the forces. The British trace this practice to 1694 A.D. when King William III after a battle ordered his drummers to march down the streets of various towns. The Indian present tradition of Beating Retreat after Republic Day Parade was choreographed and adaptedfromtheBritishpatternin1952. SincethebeginningoftheBeatingRetreatceremony, British tunes have been played.

The retreat ceremony took some sharper change in 1961 when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited India. The then Prime Minister wanted to make it a special occasion and gave Major GA Roberts, Advisor Military Music, to make it a spectacular ceremony. Major Roberts did some changes to make the Retreat a grand show (what changes he did make I could not find. We may perhaps find this in Sainik Samachar of Feb 1961 at DPR). The ceremony was organised on 27 Jan 1961 as Queen Elizabath was not available in Delhi on 29 Jan. A total of 27 Military Bands took part in the fanfare.1 Newspapers report and testimonies assert that some tunes such as 'Colonel Bogey', 'Bell Figure', 'Trom bone King', were played for decades.

Meanwhile in Beating Retreat of 1955, mass singing of 'Trahi Pahi Bharat Mata' was an unusual innovation. The drums beating by mass drummers gave a spectacular climax to the program.2 In 1979, all instruments played 'Sare Jahan Se achcha.' Air and Navy also played 'Jai Bharati' during the ceremony.3 In 1984, the bands played 'Swagatham' composed by Pt Ravi Shanker for Asiad games.4 In 1993, the bands played the tune on 'Deshon ka sartaz Bharat.'5 In 2001, the ceremony was cancelled due to an earthquake in Bhuj (Gujrat). 6 In 2009, the Beating Retreat ceremony could not take place due to death of Sh. Venkatraman, former President of India.7 Meanwhile some indigenous songs composed by Indian Military Musicians such as 'Nidar Yodha', 'Tiranga Senani, 'Ladaku', 'Swadeshi', etc., were added to the ceremony.

Further in 2015, the Beating Retreat saw some changes. The Indian musical instruments sitar, santoor, and tabla were added for the first time. The retreat was thus infused with an Indian flavour. In 2016, besides bands of Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Central Police Forces, and Delhi Police bands were also added with the retreat ceremony. Thus an ensemble of traditional Indian musical instruments, such as sitar and table, performing in tandem with military bands made a spectacular show. The army symphony orchestra was also included in the retreat ceremony. Thus, there started an increased focus on more and more Indian tunes,"

In the 2020 beating retreat, the other songs performed at the ceremony included 'Ae mere Pyaare Watan' from Kabuliwala, 'Nritya Sarita,' 'Abhiyan' and title song of film Lakshya, etc. This year (2022), the Massed Bands would play three tunes 'Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja,' 'Drummers Call,' and 'Ae mere Watan ke logon.' Last year (2021), it played four tunes, 'Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja,' 'Drummers Call,' 'Ae mere Watan ke logon' and 'Abide with me.