It is well-known that Rabindranath Tagore exercised a profound influence on the shaping of modern Indian mind. Above all he gave spiritual sustenance to the National Freedom Movement. Therefore, the charge that the song. Jana Gana Mana was originally written in praise of King George V needs to be refuted so that the newer generation of India does not fall a victim to this mistaken view. Professor Das Gupta has effectively proved that this charge is wrong.
He has also brought out the feature of our National Anthem which gives us Indians belonging to all parts of the country a sense of pride in our motherland.
I have no doubt that this book will be well received by students as well as the general public.
It is unfortunate that even over forty years after the adoption of Rabindranath's song Jana-gana-mana as our National Anthem there are voices saying that it was addressed to the King of England. In my view the average educated Indian knows that the song could never be an expression of the poet's loyalty to the British throne. Those who speak of it as such have other reasons for the choice of a new anthem for the nation. I do not wish to go into them.
Obviously, for most of the historical details about the composition of our National Anthem I am indebted to Probodh Chandra Sen's India's National Anthem. I am particularly grateful to Professor Saiyid Nurul Hasan for writing a Foreword to the book. I gratefully acknowledge my debt to Sri Debabrata Palit and Professor Manjula Lose of Tagore Research Institute for revising the manuscript and for all that they have done for the publication of this little book.
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