Meaning of Jan Gan Man

Many people think that India's national anthem was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honour of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919.  Infact it was first sung at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress on 27 December 1911 but it was never meant to honour any king or queen (though their sycophant may have given them a english version suited to their feeders).

Tagore’s poem (which was later adopted as National Anthem) indicates actual thinking and mentality of Indian People

Read Carefully this poem Again. I have translated it to English also

"Jan Gan Man Adhinayak Jai He"
( I Pray the leader who is leaving and rule in the mind of common and urban people )
--- Here Tagore indicate not only to the prime power but to the Most popular and ancient kings of India Like Ram who are still in Indian peoples thinking.


"Bharat Bhagya Vidhata"
( Builder of Indian future )
--- No any poet of India can give so much respect to any of emperor that he is builder of future of any country. It can only be the prime power i.e God.

If you look at Tagore’s work you’ll find that the metaphor “King” represents God. This can be seen in his book "Gitanjali" (an offering of songs to the God):-

Poem #50: "I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all Kings!"

Poem #51: "The King has come- but where are lights, where are wreaths? Where is the throne to seat him?….. Open the doors, let the conch-shells be sounded!"

Punjab Sindh Gujaraṭ Maraṭh
Draviḍa Utkala Banga
Vindhya Himachala Yamuna Ganga

 

Were only provinces under British rule were added? .

No, the fact is that only the borders states of India were included to represent complete India. ‘Punjab’ represented the North, Sindh’, ‘Gujarat’ and ‘Maratha’ the western border, ‘Dravida’ represents the south, ‘Utkal’(Orissa) and ‘Banga’ marks the eastern border.  Even North-East, which was under British, was not mentioned. Nor are rivers apart from Ganga and Yamuna, to keep the flow of the song.

"Tav shubh name jage
tav shubh ashish mange
gahe tav jay gatha"

( We wake up at morning by remembering your name,
We want your order to do any work,
We sing ur stories)

--- Now this is common habit of an Indian people at early morning that each Indian remember his/ her Mother and father, respected persons and God. Never did any Indian remembered British ruler at morning even in pre independence era. We have always sought blessings of God and "tav shubh ashish mange " indicate this opinion.
Also the original phrase "Nidrito Bharato Jaagey" (Sleeping India awakens) has been used by many nationalist poets to awaken the masses for revolution against British Imperialism.

"gahe tav jai gatha "
indicates common habit of Indian that they pray to God by singing and remembering his ascent stories like Geeta and Ramayan.

" Jai he Jai he Jai he
Jai Jai Jai Jai he"

This also is an Indian Aarti rule that at the end of Aarti, people call Jai-jaiKar at loud volume.
Jai he Jai he and Jai he is "Victory, Victory, Victory to India".And he here represents Hind i.e India
It could not mean to pay tribute to any Britisher in any way.

The English newspapers carried the following report about the event:

"The Bengali poet Babu Rabindranath Tagore sang a song composed by him specially to welcome the Emperor." (Statesman, Dec. 28, 1911)

"The proceedings began with the singing by Babu Rabindranath Tagore of a song specially composed by him in honour of the Emperor." (Englishman, Dec. 28, 1911)
"When the proceedings of the Indian National Congress began on Wednesday 27th December 1911, a Bengali song in welcome of the Emperor was sung. A resolution welcoming the Emperor and Empress was also adopted unanimously." (Indian, Dec. 29, 1911).

News Report About the Event as reported in the Indian newspapers 

"The proceedings of the Congress party session started with a prayer in Bengali to praise God (song of benediction). This was followed by a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V. Then another song was sung welcoming King George V." (Amrita Bazar Patrika , Dec.28,1911)

"The annual session of Congress began by singing a song composed by the great Bengali poet Babu Ravindranath Tagore. Then a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V was passed. A song paying a heartfelt homage to King George V was then sung by a group of boys and girls." (The Bengalee, Dec. 28, 1911).

Report of the annual session of the Indian National Congress

"On the first day of 28th annual session of the Congress, proceedings started after singing Vande Mataram. On the second day the work began after singing a patriotic song by Babu Ravindranath Tagore. Messages from well wishers were then read and a resolution was passed expressing loyalty to King George V. Afterwards the song composed for welcoming King George V and Queen Mary was sung."

Small but Substantial proofs

A month after Jana Gana Mana was sung at the Congress session, a circular was issued by the Director of Public Instructions for East Bengal that banned Government servants from sending their children to Shantiniketan- a school run by Rabindra Nath Tagore. Doesn’t that prove that Rabindra Nath Tagore and the British were not best of friends?

On 10 November 1937 Tagore wrote a letter to Mr Pulin Bihari Sen about the controversy. That letter in Bengali can be found in Tagore's biography Ravindrajivani, volume II page 339 by Prabhatkumar Mukherjee.
"A certain high official in His Majesty's service, who was also my friend, had requested that I write a song of felicitation towards the Emperor. The request simply amazed me. It caused a great stir in my heart. In response to that great mental turmoil, I pronounced the victory in Jana Gana Mana of that Bhagya Vidhata [ed. God of Destiny] of India who has from age after age held steadfast the reins of India's chariot through rise and fall, through the straight path and the curved. That Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide, could never be George V, George VI, or any other George. Even my official friend understood this about the song. After all, even if his admiration for the crown was excessive, he was not lacking in simple common sense."

Again in his letter of 19 March 1939 Tagore writes,
"I should only insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such unbounded stupidity as to sing in praise of George the Fourth or George the Fifth as the Eternal Charioteer leading the pilgrims on their journey through countless ages of the timeless history of mankind." (Purvasa, Phalgun, 1354, p738.)

Moreover, Tagore was hailed as a patriot who wrote other songs too apart from "Jana gana Mana" lionizing the Indian independence movement.He renounced his knighthood in protest against the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The Knighthood i.e. the title of 'Sir' was conferred on him by the same King George V after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature for "Gitanjali" from the government of Sweden. Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear" :Gitanjali Poem#35) and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favoured by Gandhiji and Netaji.



So to hell with the translation given at Wikipedia, I think it’s the feeling for own mother land that actually matters and if the feeling is not there no poem/national anthem can invoke that in you.

You may also like to visit 
http://ankit221215.blogspot.in/2011/04/bharat-mata-teri-kasam.html