Jana Gana Mana

What it is

Jana Gana Mana is a song written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911, originally titled "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" and composed as a Brahmo Samaj hymn. It was first publicly sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. Its first stanza was adopted as India's national anthem by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.

Why it matters

The song shows Tagore's role not just as a poet but as a shaper of national identity. Written originally as a religious hymn, it later became a unifying symbol for an entire nation, sung and performed in many settings over decades, including by Tagore himself at Besant Theosophical College in 1919, where it was first transcribed in Western musical notation by Margaret Cousins.

Look closer

• Why might a song written as a religious hymn later become a national anthem?
• What does it mean that people from very different backgrounds helped record and preserve this song's melody?
• How does a song's meaning change depending on who sings it and why?