First publicly sung on 27 December 1911, at the, then loyal to the British Crown, Indian National Congress convention in Calcutta, Bengal, the জন গণ মন, the Jana Gana Mana, is India's national anthem.
Written in a literary register of Bengali, sadhu bhasa, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote the Jana Gana Mana, The Morning Song of India almost entirely using nouns that also function as verbs.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national anthems of both India & Bangladesh. Image:Graphical Representation of some of the poems from his book Katha o Kahini.
The first stanza of Jana Gana Mana is India's national anthem.
Is India's spiritual heritage embedded in the entirety of the Jana Gana Mana?
Stanza 1, The Indian National Anthem
Bengali
জন গণ মন
জনগণমন-অধিনায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
পঞ্জাব সিন্ধু গুজরাট মরাঠা দ্রাবিড় উৎকল বঙ্গ
বিন্ধ্য হিমাচল যমুনা গঙ্গা উচ্ছলজলধিতরঙ্গ
তব শুভ নামে জাগে, তব শুভ আশিষ মাগে,
গাহে তব জয়গাথা।
জনগণমঙ্গলদায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয় জয় হে॥
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindhu,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida & Orissa & Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas & Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and sing Thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to Thee.
Who is the dispenser of India's destiny?
What is now the National Anthem of the Republic of India is the first stanza of a five-stanza Brahmo Sangeet or psalm ... in adulation of Para Brahma -- He who is the True, the Good, the Infinite; the Eternal Lord of the Universe; the Omniscient, the Omnipresent, the Omnipotent; the Formless, Changeless, Self contained and Perfect Almighty.
For the Brahmo Samaj, whose members adhere to Adi Dharma, anchored in the dazzling enlightenment of the Upanishads, Para Brahma is the only Ishwar, the One Supreme Spirit, the Author & Preserver of our existence, the Eternal Light that shows us the path when darkness descends, the Lighthouse that guides us through the stormy sea of life. He presides over the destiny of our wondrous universe, hence also the destiny of Bharat.
Kanchan Gupta, Jana Gana Mana, The Morning Song Of India on Facebook.
Stanza 2
অহরহ তব আহ্বান প্রচারিত, শুনি তব উদার বাণী
হিন্দু বৌদ্ধ শিখ জৈন পারসিক মুসলমান খৃস্টানী
পূরব পশ্চিম আসে তব সিংহাসন-পাশে
প্রেমহার হয় গাঁথা।
জনগণ-ঐক্য-বিধায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয়, জয় হে॥
Your call is announced continuously,
we heed Your gracious call.
The Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains,
Muslims & Christians,
The East & the West come
to the side of Your throne
And weave the garland of love.
Oh! You who bring in the unity of the people!
Victory be to You, dispenser of the destiny of India!
Is Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem of the Republic of India
A divine prayer to the almighty?
A sublime composition?
A patriotic song?
Stanza 3 পতন-অভ্যুদয়-বন্ধুর পন্থা, যুগ-যুগ ধাবিত যাত্রী। হে চিরসারথি, তব রথচক্রে মুখরিত পথ দিনরাত্রি। দারুণ বিপ্লব-মাঝে তব শঙ্খধ্বনি বাজে সঙ্কটদুঃখত্রাতা। জনগণপথপরিচায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা! জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয় জয় হে॥ The way of life is somber as it moves through ups & downs. But we, the pilgrims, have followed through ages. Oh! Eternal Charioteer, the wheels of your chariot echo day and night in the path In the midst of fierce revolution your conch shell sounds. You save us from fear and misery. Oh! You who guide the people through tortuous path! Victory be to You, dispenser of the destiny of India!
Who is the eternal charioteer?
In the song Jana Gana Mana I have praised the God Bharat Bhagya Vidhata who is the constant charioteer of travelers through the ages, he who guides through all the difficult circumstances, he who is born in many ages.
Tagore, 10 Nov 1937.
Stanza 4
ঘোরতিমিরঘন নিবিড় নিশীথে পীড়িত মূর্ছিত দেশে
জাগ্রত ছিল তব অবিচল মঙ্গল নতনয়নে অনিমেষে।
দুঃস্বপ্নে আতঙ্কে রক্ষা করিলে অঙ্কে
স্নেহময়ী তুমি মাতা।
জনগণদুঃখত্রায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয় জয় হে॥
During the bleakest of nights,
when the whole country was sick & in swoon
Wakeful remained Your incessant blessings
through Your lowered but winkless eyes.
Through nightmares and fears
You protected us on Your lap
Oh Loving Mother.
Oh! You who have removed the misery of the people!
Victory be to You, dispenser of the destiny of India!
Tagore's dispenser of the destiny of India?
You protected us on Your lap,
Oh Affectionate Mother”
(Snehomoyi tumi mata).
Hari is identified with Kali. As Hari-Hara or Sankara Narayana, Vishnu is depicted as the left half of Siva, the half that Goddess occupies when Siva is Ardhanareeswara.
A terrific combination… found only in some pockets of Bengal & nowhere else — Krshna & Kali together. Half of the vigraha is Krshna & half Kali, carrying both a Khadaga & a flute!
Rajarshi Nandy
Was Tagore referring to half Krshna, half Kali when he defined India's Bharoto bhaggo bidhata as feminine.
Stanza 5
রাত্রি প্রভাতিল, উদিল রবিচ্ছবি পূর্ব-উদয়গিরিভালে---
গাহে বিহঙ্গম, পুণ্য সমীরণ নবজীবনরস ঢালে।
তব করুণারুণরাগে নিদ্রিত ভারত জাগে
তব চরণে নত মাথা।
জয় জয় জয় হে, জয় রাজেশ্বর ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয় জয় হে॥
The night is over, and the Sun has risen
over the eastern horizon.
The birds are singing, and a gentle auspicious breeze
is pouring the elixir of new life.
By the halo of Your compassion
India that was asleep is now waking
Victory be to You, the Supreme King!
dispenser of the destiny of India
In India's freedom struggle, the Bengal & Maharashtra inspired nationalist movements gave way to Gandhism. Was this but the manifestation of the tensions between Bhakti based Vaishnavism & Shaktic Tantrism: Kali?
The Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur campaigned against the Tantric traditions of Assam its environs.
Samanvaya, (coordination) though, brought together Shakti & Vaishanvism of the Sikh Panth when Khalsa attempted nation building. Samanvaya, thus manifested in Chandi di Var: Guru Gobind Singh's martial ballad of the Goddess Kali battling the demons based on Markandeya Purana.
Further reading
Who is Kali?
Why was the Apostle Thomas murdered?
From Mongols to Mughals
Kalikatta, Calcutta, Kolkata, the city of joy
The Thugees: The world's first Mafia or The world's deadliest secet society?
Sacrificing children to please the gods
Sati: Even death will not do us part
The Kali Series, Article 2.5 Based on Unmasking & Dethroning the Goddess Kali by Jeshu Das, Calcutta, India
Why learn about Kali?
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us:
for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2 Cor 2:11, KJV
We're called to educate ourselves
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest
to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy
God, I will also forget thy children.
Hos 4:6, KJV
We walk in the Spirit.
For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh:
(For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ; And having in a readiness to
revenge all disobedience, when your
obedience is fulfilled.
2 Cor 10:3-6, KJV
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