Book Extract | Song of India: A Study of the National Anthem by Rudrangshu Mukherjee

Book Extract

Excerpted with permission from the publishers Song of India: A Study of the National Anthem Rudrangshu Mukherjee, published by Aleph Book Company

Tagore’s view of India’s history and his understanding of what he thought was at the very core of Indian civilization was presented in a cluster of essays. In these he argued that in spite of the presence of many people and many cultures over the ages in India, there had been a unifying force at work. The differences had not been ironed out but had been fused. In one essay he wrote, ‘Bharatvarsha has attempted the bonding of dissimilars. Where there is genuine difference, it is possible to accommodate it in its appropriate place and thereby bring it within the unity. You cannot legislate unity into existence.’ The characteristic feature of Indian civilization has been the quest to find unity amidst a plurality of cultures. Reiterating the point he wrote, ‘India has always sought one thing only: to establish unity in diversity, to direct many paths towards the same goal, to perceive the one among the many indubitably and profoundly—to secure the intrinsic affinity without destroying external differences.’ He contrasted this with the West’s attempts to obliterate differences through imperialist domination.

Writing on the reconciliation of opposites which he considered to be the essence of India’s history and culture, Tagore, in another essay, noted, ‘Where the harmony between the component differences has been organically effected, there beauty has blossomed; so long as it remains wanting, there is no end to deformities.’ Tagore admitted that the search of harmony had not been perfect and without barriers. This quest for unity was not confined only to elites and upper castes. Tagore wrote that in one era of India’s history, ‘...the message of the spiritual freedom and unity of man mainly sprang from the obscure strata of the community, where belonged the castes that were despised. Though it has to be admitted that in the medieval age the Brahmin Ramananda was the first to give voice to the cry of unity, which is India’s own, and in consequence lost his honoured privileges as a Brahmin guru, yet it is nonetheless true that most of our great saints of that time, who took up this cry in their life and teaching and songs, came from the lower classes, one of them being a Muhammadan weaver, one a cobbler, and several coming from ranks of society whose touch would pollute the drinking water of the respectable section of Hindus.’ This was an ancient quest: to seek ‘goodness… in the truth of perfect union’. Tagore’s prayer for India was taken from a verse of the Svetasvatara Upanishad: ‘He who is one, who is above all colour distinctions, who dispenses the inherent needs of men of all colours, who comprehends all things from their beginning to the end, let Him unite us to one another with the wisdom which is the wisdom of goodness.’

Many of the ideas presented above from Tagore’s writings around 1910 and 1912, exactly the period when he composed ‘Jana Gana Mana’, are reflected in the song. The diversity and plurality of India—in terms of varied population, in terms of geography and regional variations, in terms of the different faiths and cultures of the people who inhabit the space called Bharat. Beneath this surface diversity, there has always worked the force of unity. In the song, Tagore identified this force as the dispenser of India’s destiny—Bharata bhagya bidhata around whose throne all, irrespective of their differences, gathered to weave the necklace of love. To borrow from Gora’s plea to Pareshbabu, this was the God of India who bequeathed the mantra of unity and harmony. Tagore saw Bharat as a civilizational site to which many had come to ‘merge and to be merged’. This is why, for him, India was a pilgrimage—a site to come to with heads bowed and ‘bound in humility’. Bharat was not a place for the display of arrogance. Unity was anchored in compassion. This is why Tagore loved India. ‘I love India,’ he wrote, ‘not because I cultivate the idolatry of geography, not because I have had the chance to be born in her soil, but because she has saved through tumultuous ages the living words that have issued from the illuminated consciousness of her great sons: Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam Brahma, Brahma is truth, Brahma is wisdom, Brahma is infinite; Santam, Sivam, Advaitam, peace is Brahma, goodness is in Brahma, and the unity of all beings.’ ‘Jana Gana Mana’ celebrates this unity and the maker of this unity—‘Thou bringest the hearts of all peoples into the harmony of one life.’**********

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Song of India: A Study of the National Anthem ‎ Aleph Book Company, 2025. Hb. Pp.96

The rousing chords and stirring message of ‘Jana Gana Mana’ are familiar to every Indian citizen. The song defines with clarity India’s most cherished values. Composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, it celebrates the unity in our diverse and plural society, praises the beauty of our mountains, rivers, and seas, and honours our civilizational values. In this insightful study, scholar and historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee traces its origins (showing us what its creator had in mind when he composed the song), explains how and why it was chosen over other contenders, examines the occasional controversies that have surrounded it, and reminds us about the truths that underlie it. The national anthem is visionary. It recognizes and salutes everything that is brave, noble, and unique about our country. It also contains within it a promise and a pledge to uphold our lofty ideals and traditions. Citizens, and especially our elected representatives, should understand that every time they stand up in respect when ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is played or sung, it is their responsibility to fulfil the promise and honour the pledge.

Rudrangshu Mukherjee is Chancellor and Professor of History at Ashoka University, of which he was the founding Vice Chancellor. He was educated at Calcutta Boys’ School, Presidency College, Calcutta, JNU, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He was awarded a DPhil in Modern History by the University of Oxford. He has taught in the department of history, Calcutta University, and held visiting appointments at Princeton University, Manchester University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. From 1993 to 2014, he was the Editor, Editorial Pages, The Telegraph. He is the author of many books—these include Nehru & Bose: Parallel Lives; Awadh in Revolt 1857–58: A Study of Popular Resistance; Spectre of Violence: The Massacres in Kanpur in 1857; The Year of Blood: Essays on 1857; Dateline 1857: Revolt against the Raj. His recent books include A Begum and A Rani: Hazrat Mahal and Lakshmibai in 1857; Tagore and Gandhi: Walking Alone, Walking Together, which won the Valley of Words Award 2022, non-fiction; and Twilight Falls on Liberalism. He is the editor of Great Speeches of Modern India and The Penguin Gandhi Reader, and the co-author (with Shobita Punja and Toby Sinclair) of A New History of India: From Its Origins to the Twenty-First Century.