Bharat Bhagya Vidhata: India desitny Godess

Having being brought up in Calcutta, I had my overdose on Ravindranath Tagore and as a child I had to memorize many songs in Bengali without appriciating the words. One such song is the national anthem, which must be memorized and sung by me umpteen times without ever knowing the meaning.



However today I had a mail which aroused my curosity that this poem was unpratotic as it was written to felicitate King George. When you first read the translation, it does seem that the song is dedicated to a Person who is responsible for India's destiny and can this could be very well be King George.

However according to the poet on 10 November 1937, 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."  (read more on wikipedia)

Well we can always put a name to this Desitiny God/Godess. For folks who want to believe it was King George can do so, for some it may be todays policitian like Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati or Mamta Banerjee.

For me however it is the determination of the common man so personified by R.K Laxman's famous caricature.

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