‘Jana Gana Mana’ is the national anthem of India, written and sung by Rabindranath Tagore. It is an adoption from the poet’s Bengali song, ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata,’ composed on 11th December 1911. The song ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata' has five stanzas, out of which only the first stanza was officially adopted as the national anthem of India by the Constituent Assembly of India on 24th January 1950, two days before India’s first republic day.
Did you know that the song ‘Bharato Bhagya Bidhata’ was first sung publicly in a session held by Indian National Congress in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 27th December 1911, and Rabindranath Tagore himself sang it? On February 28th, 1919, Rabindranath Tagore translated the Bengali song into English and titled it ‘The Morning Song Of India.’
Coincidently, the song was written a day before the coronation of King George V. People quickly assumed that Rabindranath Tagore penned this song to honour the British King. This rumour destressed Tagore, and he later sent a letter sharing that he had written ‘Bharato Bhagya Bidhata’ to pronounce the victory and greatness of India and not to praise any British King.
Subhas Chandra Bose was in Germany when he chose the song to be the national anthem of India. On the occasion of the founding meeting of the German-Indian Society on 11th September 1942 in Hamburg, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was played for the first time by the Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra as the national anthem of India. B.L. Mukherjee and Ambik Majumdar prepared musical notations and interpretations of this song.
Before ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was officially declared the national anthem of India in 1950, it was featured in the film Hamrahi, released in 1945. Moreover, it was adopted as a school song of The Doon School in Dehradun. The formal version of the anthem is approximately 52 seconds long. However, a shortened version is also occasionally staged and is about 20 seconds long.
Do you wish to play ‘Jana Gana Mana’ on piano? If yes, then Torrins can help! We have a piano song lesson on ‘Jana Gana Mana’ tailored for beginners. Harrison Light teaches the simplified version of the national anthem. He is a versatile pianist with over two decades of experience playing piano professionally.
Harrison has divided the ‘Jana Gana Mana’ lesson for beginners into the following sections: Introduction & Chords, Demo & Section 1, Section 2, and Slow Demo. Following Harrison’s lead will help you play the national anthem on piano in no time!
If you enjoyed our piano song lesson on ‘Jana Gana Mana,’ then check out our lessons on ‘Papa Kehte Hai,’ ‘Why This Kolaveri Di,’ and ‘Tu Hai Ki Nahi.’ We also feature various piano playlists on our platform like All-Time Classics and Piano Pop.
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