Should India change its national anthem?

[PredictablyMalicious]

And is interested in philosophy so that he can attract "sloots." [sic.]

This has nothing to so with the topic at han

 

[pmaitra]

This has nothing to so with the topic at han

I agree and I admit my error. Sorry. Let's move on.

 

[Ray]

I will submit that the main reason why Jana Gana Mana needs to be replaced is because it is incomprehensible to the vast majority (including me) of those who sing it year after year at Republic or Independence Day events etc. Every time I happen to sing this vaguely decipherable gibberish, I wonder what this word or that means and in some cases, though I understand most of the words in a stanza, what does the entire stanza itself mean?

Instead of using highly Sanskritized Bengali (which I found was the case only after a previous discussion with some Bengali members of this forum-earlier, I believed JGM was in Sanskrit), maybe a Hindi rendition of the anthem can be used. At the very least this will serve the purpose of comprehension of what one is singing, though it may indeed cause some protest from the "chip on the shoulder" language-nationalist types like some of our esteemed Tamil brethren.

The way it is sung in the HIndi style of pronunciation, it sounds totally a HIndi anthem and not the original one in Bengali.

There is nothing gibberrish about it.

It is not Sanskritised either. In fact, much of Bengali words do sound Sanskrit, which indicates it is close to the Mother language than mjaybe Hindi! That should warm the cockles of the heart of many of the nationalists around this forum and in India.

Sadhu Bhasa (as mentioned in Wiki) is a bit mischievous. One must understand that an anthem cannot be written in street level colloquial style, since the gravity and the reverence that it should inspire, would be lost.

Imagine a national anthem with words charged with Laloo's so called 'earthy' witticism!

Each word can be understood to anyone who knows Hindi.

It is possibly the South Indians who might find it difficult to understand and that is a truism.

Rabindranath set all his poetic composition to tunes by himself.

That apart on the issue of changing the national anthem to something all would understand, what could be better than our current national anthem?

As I have brought out earlier, each word is easily understood by anyone who understands Hindi.

Sara Jahan se Accha would warm the hearts of many who a votaries that Hindi should rule the Indian waves.

But then, someone would say it more akin to Urdu!

There is no end to people finding faults. They find fault with God also!

So, where is the finality of the issue?

 

[Waffen SS]

To those people who say India's National Anthem should be changed, May I ask them what is wrong? Is it because it is written in Bengali that's why?

What is wrong with it?

More ever Rabindranath Thakur was first indian and first Asian to win a noble prize, it will be a dishonour to him.

I strongly oppose it.

 

[Ray]

"Vande Mataram" or any "Sanskrit Song" needs to be adopted as our national anthem.

I would agree provided the country adopts it as the national language and teaches it, rather than cosmetically give it the place of honour.

How many know Sanskrit and now many speak it?

And since our National emblem is the Ashoka Lions, why not a Magadhi Prakrit (th language in which the edicts of Ashoka was written) anthem?

And why not Pali?

 

[kseeker]

I would agree provided the country adopts it as the national language and teaches it, rather than cosmetically give it the place of honour.

How many know Sanskrit and now many speak it?

And since our National emblem is the Ashoka Lions, why not a Magadhi Prakrit (th language in which the edicts of Ashoka was written) anthem?

And why not Pali?

Yes, I agree. there are too many if's and but's one can argue about without coming to any conclusion.

BTW, There are 5 places in India where Sanskrit is used as a spoken language ! I knew only about Mattur .

a. Mattur or Muttoor (Karnataka).
b. Hosahalli (Karnataka).
c. Jhiri (Madhya Pradesh)
d. Mohad (Madhya Pradesh)
e. Baghuwar (Madhya Pradesh)

ref: Center for Traditional Education: Five Indian villages where sanskrit is spoken

 

[Ray]

Yes, I agree. there are too many if's and but's one can argue about without coming to any conclusion.

BTW, There are 5 places in India where Sanskrit is used as a spoken language ! I knew only about Mattur .

a. Mattur or Muttoor (Karnataka).
b. Hosahalli (Karnataka).
c. Jhiri (Madhya Pradesh)
d. Mohad (Madhya Pradesh)
e. Baghuwar (Madhya Pradesh)

ref: Center for Traditional Education: Five Indian villages where sanskrit is spoken

I would not assume that those five villages as an example would represent the whole of South India and India itself.

And it is blog and not authentic information.

 

[kseeker]

I would not assume that those five villages as an example would represent the whole of South India and India itself.

And it is blog and not authentic information.

I agree, it was just for information. I missed to quote that part as an FYI...

 

[Known_Unknown]

The way it is sung in the HIndi style of pronunciation, it sounds totally a HIndi anthem and not the original one in Bengali.

There is nothing gibberrish about it.

It sounds like Sanskrit to a non-Bengali speaker like me, because it has many words that are not normally encountered in Hindi. "Jana Gana Mana" itself is meaningless to me. "Jana" in Hindi means people I think, but the way I and everyone else around me always pronounced it was with a "ण", not "न", leading it to sound like "जण गण मण". Was it supposed to sound that way? I had no idea, as I didn't know what the words were supposed to mean. I can only guess that "Jana" means people, "Mana" means minds. What does "Gana" mean? Is it the same as in "Bharat Ganarajya", i.e Republic of India?

For schoolchildren that are taught the anthem from a very early age, if the words are meaningless to them, then they will fail to install a sense of patriotism or pride even if it is sung at the start of classes every day, as it was in my case. It's like the Brits or Americans singing an anthem in Latin, sure, they could catch a word here and there and guess what the others meant from the context/sentence construction, but it would not touch the soul and stir their hearts with pride like an anthem in English would do.

It is not Sanskritised either. In fact, much of Bengali words do sound Sanskrit, which indicates it is close to the Mother language than mjaybe Hindi! That should warm the cockles of the heart of many of the nationalists around this forum and in India.

Sadhu Bhasa (as mentioned in Wiki) is a bit mischievous. One must understand that an anthem cannot be written in street level colloquial style, since the gravity and the reverence that it should inspire, would be lost.

Imagine a national anthem with words charged with Laloo's so called 'earthy' witticism!

At the very minimum, a song which exists to inspire national pride should be understandable. As a Marathi speaker, this song stirs my heart far more than the gibberish in the national anthem:


Now imagine if this song were to be the anthem. Would it stir the hearts of the non-Marathi speaking forum members here and instill patriotic fervor in their hearts as it does mine? Of course not.

Each word can be understood to anyone who knows Hindi.

It is possibly the South Indians who might find it difficult to understand and that is a truism.

Rabindranath set all his poetic composition to tunes by himself.

That apart on the issue of changing the national anthem to something all would understand, what could be better than our current national anthem?

As I have brought out earlier, each word is easily understood by anyone who understands Hindi.

I strongly disagree. Native Hindi speakers do not use the kind of Sanskrit vocabulary that exists in the anthem, and non-Hindi speakers (except perhaps Marathis) even less so. If we have a poll asking whether people understand each and every word and the meaning of every sentence, I'm sure the results would validate my claim.

Sara Jahan se Accha would warm the hearts of many who a votaries that Hindi should rule the Indian waves.

But then, someone would say it more akin to Urdu!

There is no end to people finding faults. They find fault with God also!

So, where is the finality of the issue?

The finality rests in penning a new anthem entirely in Hindi which can be understood by those who are singing it. If the Tamils don't have an issue with a Bengali anthem, one would hope they would be OK with a Hindi one as well.

 

[pmaitra]

@Known_Unknown, you are correct. Bengalis do not pronounce "ण" correctly. They always turn it into "न." Your pronunciation is correct. Usually Biharis and UPites have a more accurate pronunciation than Bengalis.

Yes, "Gana" means the same in "Ganarajya."

Do not forget, Sanskrit is the mother of Bengali, so what you interpret is the same thing what Bengalis interpret.

 

[Known_Unknown]

@Known_Unknown, you are correct. Bengalis do not pronounce "ण" correctly. They always turn it into "न." Your pronunciation is correct. Usually Biharis and UPites have a more accurate pronunciation than Bengalis.

I'm surprised! I thought I pronounced it wrong throughout school, because "Jana" with a "ण" means nothing in Hindi, but with a "न", it could mean people as in "जनता". I think the "ण" character possibly doesn't exist in many Indian languages, hence people pronounce the words of the anthem differently, hence adding to even more confusion about how the anthem should actually sound. This is of course, altogether apart form the issue of comprehension!

 

[pmaitra]

I'm surprised! I thought I pronounced it wrong throughout school, because "Jana" with a "ण" means nothing in Hindi, but with a "न", it could mean people as in "जनता". I think the "ण" character possibly doesn't exist in many Indian languages, hence people pronounce the words of the anthem differently, hence adding to even more confusion about how the anthem should actually sound. This is of course, altogether apart form the issue of comprehension!

In गणराज्य, the 'n' has to be like in ब्राह्-मण. So, you would actually bring the tip of your tongue inwards and away from the teeth. That character exists in Devnagari, and also in Bengali, which I consider part of the Devnagari family of scripts. It may or may not be used, but it does exist.

 

[Known_Unknown]

Here's another example of a highly Sanskritized Marathi song:


I'm sure most non-Marathi speakers would be understand some of the (Sanskrit) words as they would be present in Devanagri derived languages in some form of pronunciation or another. However, would they understand the entire meaning of all the stanzas?

This is exactly the problem I face with the national anthem as a non-Bengali speaker.

Hence the plea to replace the anthem with something in Hindi so it becomes relevant for the majority of Indians.

 

[Blackwater]

I really dislike India's current national anthem. Don't get me wrong, I understand and appreciate the noble intentions behind the composition but it is just so powerless. It fails to inspire a nationalist fervour and sounds too peaceful. For an aspiring superpower and a nation that is on the rise, the anthem is too concerned with ethnic/religious diversity and has nothing to say about progress. Moreover, Jana Gana Mana simply lacks musical sophistication and is not pleasing in an aesthetic sense; that is perhaps its greatest defect. Hence it follows that India should change its national anthem. Agree or disagree?

100000000000000000000000000000000% agree

its one of the most boring anthem i have ever come across.

90% of people in india can't sing or understand the meaning.

90% dont stand when played

90% wait and pray when it will end

It failed to kick nationalism and spark

 

[Blackwater]

@atheisthindu,

This is the first sane thread which you have created on DFI ! Kudos to you :thumb:

My vote goes for changing the national anthem not because of the reasons you have mentioned but for the fact that, the song was written by Tagore to praise a Br!turd King in the first place as I had read and heard.

IMO, "Vande Mataram" or any "Sanskrit Song" needs to be adopted as our national anthem.

 

[angeldude13]

Vande matram sung by lata mangeshkar should be made our national anthem because it sounds awesome.



I remember my school days when we didn't like to sing vande mataram because it was soooo boring but then i heard vande mataram sung by lata mangeshkar and realised this is the most awesomest song in the world.

 

[Deccani]

Just cant understand why we Indians always like to have controversies around us .

 

[Blackwater]

Just cant understand why we Indians always like to have controversies around us .

u mean pakistan and china???

 

[kseeker]

 

[RajputPride]

I think an anthem which has one section in Hindi, then in Tamil and other indigenous languages should be made. In my opinion this will help with overall unity.