India's Finest Musicians Perform 4 Stanzas Of 'Jana Gana Mana' That You've Never Heard Before!

Since Jana Gana Mana was first sung at the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Kolkata in January 1912, plenty of versions of Rabindranath Tagore’s magnificent tribute to Bharata Bhagya Bidhatha – the divine ‘arbitrer of India’s destiny’ – have been composed. One the eve of India’s 70th Independence Day, let’s take a look back at a truly uplifting one.

BCCL

The first – a Times of India and Sa Re Ga Ma co-production that was first released in 2011 – is a rendition of all five stanzas of the original poem by Tagore. A lot of people may not know that the lines they were taught to sing in school are only from the first stanza. In this ten-minute video, you can listen to 39 of India’s foremost musicians – including Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Jasraj, Jagdit Singh, Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher, Hariharan, Usha Uthup, Sonu Nigam, P Susheela and Kavita Krishnamuri – sing the entire song, accompanied by Harshavardan Neotia, who provides a rousing spoken English translation of each stanza.

BCCL

Such is the soul-stirring beauty of Tagore’s language that the poem doesn’t even have to be set to music to be inspirational. My favourite part is in the second stanza, which contains a message of inclusiveness, saying that ‘the guardian of India’s destiny’ calls for India’s multi-confessional populace to unite, and that her diverse communities move to ‘weave a garland of love.’

The final segment of the video, accompanied by the track’s crescendo, contains a special treat – three extraordinary photographs of ‘Gurudev,’ that last of which renders the great poet’s aura of tranquillity and wisdom palpable.