70th Independence Day: 10 lesser known facts about India's National Anthem

There are some lesser known but interesting facts about our National Anthem. It is a reflex in us to rise the moment we hear the pride inducing words from our National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’, quite literally leaving all what we are busy with. It was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as India’s National Anthem on 24 January 1950. 

The soulful composition evokes a sense of patriotism in every Indian. Let’s take a look at 10 interesting facts about our National Anthem which you were probably not aware of: 

•Jana Gana Mana is a five-stanza Brahmo hymn titled Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata. The first stanza of it has been adopted   as India’s National Anthem. 

•It is written in Bengali and is attributed to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. 

•It takes approximately 52 seconds to play the entire song. There is a shortened version comprising the  first and last     lines which can be rendered in 20 seconds. 

•The line in the anthem ‘Punjab Sindhu Gujarat Maratha Dravid Utkal Banga’ denotes the regions of India before        partition as the National Anthem was written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911.

•The first rendition of the song was during a convention of the Indian National Congress on December 16th, 1911. 'Jana Gana Mana' was performed for the first time in Hamburg on 11th September, 1942. It was only on 24th January 1950 that this song was officially declared as national anthem of India.

•Interestingly, Rabindranath Tagore’s poem (Amar Sonar Bangla) was later selected as Bangladesh’s  national anthem. 

•There is no provision of law which compels anyone to sing the national anthem. It is not considered disrespectful to the nation or to the anthem if a person chooses only to stand up in respectful silence.  

•As provided in Section 3 of the Act, whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Jana Gana Mana or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. 

•Whenever the Anthem is played or sung, the audience shall stand to attention. However, when in the course of a newsreel or documentary the Anthem is played as a part of the film, it is not expected of the audience to stand.  

•A false message spread vigorously across e-mail, WhatsApp and other social networking sites, that UNESCO announced our anthem as the 'Best National Anthem' in the world. However, reports say that UNESCO has denied any such declaration on their part.