INDIA, December 26, 2011 (BBC): The song has been as feted as it has been vilified. Jana Gana Mana, India’s national anthem, has seen millions on their feet, standing to reverential attention, every time it is played.
Among its critics are those that consider the song to be deferential to the British monarchy; others find it fails to fully reflect races and regions. Political controversies, clamor for changes in lyrics by regional politicians, and even claims of co-ownership of the composition have kept Jana Gana Mana in the news.
But 100 years after Tagore – the first Asian winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 – wrote and performed the song on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, Jana Gana Mana has maintained its grip on the Indian public and political imagination.
Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi considered the song to have “found a place in our national life” while India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru noted that Jana Gana Mana was “a great national song… also because it is a constant reminder to all of our people of Rabindranath Tagore”.
Tagore scholar Prabodhchandra Sen pointed out the broader vision of Jana Gana Mana as a song that glorifies the motherland and is a “hymn in praise of the lord of the universe, the dispenser of human destiny” – a status not mortally possible for any human being to achieve, including the British king.
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