A Great Poet and the National Anthems of two countries

To every person in the world, Motherland holds a different significance that can never be substituted for anything else; it is due to this sentiment that national anthems were created for every country. Melody being the ultimate form of expression for humane emotions, it gave rise to these anthems that later served to represent the country for which it was created. However, it’s only the language and the tonal patterns that vary in the factor that identifies a nation from its very nascent stage; the innate message remaining unchanged, which is to “Praise the country that showed you the world”. But when it’s about the countries where Bangla is the language of the masses, a tripartite struggle continues between three different anthems and it still continues.

The idea was first struck with the release of Ananda Math, the novel by Rishi Bankimchandra Chattopaddhyay; Bande Mataram, the anthem of the Santans found place amongst the revolutionaries against the British rule in the early 20^th century. “Worship the Mother” if translated literally; it also came to be known as the chant of the Agni Yug (the Fire laden Era) that existed among the subversives till Independence was gained. However, Bande Mataram was never given the status of   the national anthem largely due to the fact that other religious clans are against the worship of any female figure; Bande Mataram treated India as a Goddess to be worshipped. Instead, it was the great poet Rabindranath Tagore’s composition Jana Gana Mana in Bengali that was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on the 24^th of January of 1950. A few quick facts on the same follows: 

• First sung on the 27^th of December 1911. 

• The venue was the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.

• The occasion was King George V's visit to the Indian National Congress.

• The song comprises five stanzas and was later translated to English by Rabindranath Tagore himself. 

For Bengali translation by native translator contact www.indianscripts.com 

According to some, the above facts strongly contradict the defense that Tagore had put up himself; Tagore claimed the song as an act of subversion though evidences strongly point towards the composition as a piece of work that was written to celebrate the visit of the English king. One such contradiction prevails at the very beginning of the song; whom did he assign the designation of Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka (Thou are the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India's destiny) and sang the praise of Jaya He (victory to thee)? And how much ever we blame the pro-British Anglo-Indian press as the originator of the thought, a little pondering would reveal an abstract figure to whom the praise was sung, if not democracy and Swaraj (self-rule). 

The third and the last anthem that we shall be discussing is the one that belongs to Bangladesh; Amar Sonar Bangla, though a great composition, doesn’t necessarily reflect the spirit of the freedom struggle and the great sacrifices that associate with its history. Thus, the core credential that greatly symbolizes the emotional significance to establish a concrete image of national integrity and identity misses out, leaving space for only the description of the country. And fact remains that even after forty-five years of independence, the people of Bangladesh cannot agree on the political correctness of the anthem, though liberation struggle benefited greatly from it by virtue of the romantic bend the anthem portrays about the Bengali soil and related attributes, a large part of which represents the rural Bengal. And neither has it been given the due respect a national anthem usually deserves.For Bengali translation by native translator contact www.indianscripts.com