Lesser-known facts everyone should know about the National Anthem
All of us have sung the national anthem and since school, stood up every time we heard it .
krishna murthy
But do we know enough about our anthem other than that it was written and composed by Nobel laureate and mystic poet Ravindranath Tagore?
The first version of the ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was publicly sung on 27 December 1911 on the second day of the Calcutta Session held by the Indian National Congress.
The song consists of five stanzas in Sanskritised Bengali, of which only the first stanza is commonly known and sung by citizens across the country
The song consists of five stanzas in Sanskritised Bengali, of which only the first stanza is commonly known and sung by citizens across the country
The script of the National Anthem was first written on 11 December 1911 to reflect India’s culture, values, and independence. It was first published in a Bengali newspaper called Tattwabodhini Patrika in 1905
'Jana Gana Mana' was performed (not sung) for the first time in Hamburg on 11th September, 1942.
The first stanza of the song Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata was officially approved by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950
The Jana Gana Mana was declared as India’s National Anthem on 24th January 1950.
The official version of the National Anthem of India should take 52 seconds by law, and not 54 seconds.
From sanskritised Bengali, the national anthem’s Hindi-Urdu version was commissioned by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose while the translation was written by Captain Abid Ali of the Indian National Army
Interestingly, Rabindranath Tagore has written the national anthem of Bangladesh as well which is titled Amar Sonar Bangla.
There is no provision of law which compels anyone to sing the national anthem. It is not considered disrespectful to the nation or to the anthem if a person chooses only to stand up in respectful silence.
On 7th of July, 2015, Rajasthan Governor, Kalyan Singh has called for replacing the word Adhinayaka with the word Mangal, basing his argument on the myth Tagore himself busted back in 1939 itself.