Sare Jahan se Accha

Sare Jahan se Accha (Urdu:سارے جہاں سے اچھا; Sāre Jahāṉ se Acchā), formally known as Tarānah-e-Hindi (Urdu:ترانۂ ہندی; Anthem of the People of pre-partition, undivede India Hindustan), is an Urdu language patriotic song written by poet Muhammad Iqbal in the ghazal style of Urdu poetry,[lower-alpha 1] which was published in the weekly journal Ittehad on 16 August 1904 to express patriotism and love during independence from British-rule.[1]

This article is about the Urdu poem. For other use(s), see Sare Jahan se Accha (disambiguation).

After 1905, Iqbal had turned from an Indian nationalist (India/nation first) to the Islamic philosopher, and in sharp contrast to the Indian nationalist anthem "Sare Jahan se Accha" he went on to write an Islamic supremacist anthem "Tarana-e-Milli" in 1910.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

The song "Sare Jahan se Accha" has remained popular only in India,[lower-alpha 2] where an abridged version is sung and played as a patriotic song, and Pandit Ravi Shankar's slightly varient version composure of the song was adopted as the official quick march of the Indian Armed Forces.[8]

History

Iqbal was a lecturer at the Government College, Lahore before partition, and was invited by a student Lala Har Dayal to preside over a function. Instead of delivering a speech, Iqbal sang "Saare Jahan Se Achcha" which quickly became an anthem of opposition against the British Raj. The song, in addition to embodying yearning and attachment to the land of Hindustan, expressed "cultural memory" and had an elegiac quality. In 1905, the 27-year-old Iqbal viewed the future society of the subcontinent as both a pluralistic, secular and a society composite Hindu-Muslim culture. Later that year he left for Europe for a three-year sojourn that was to transform him into an Islamic philosopher and a visionary of a future Islamic society.[8]

Publicly recited by Iqbal the following year at Government College, Lahore, British India (now in Pakistan) it quickly became an anthem of opposition to the British Raj. The song, an ode to Hindustan (India), was later published in 1924 in the Urdu book Bang-i-Dara.[8]

In the 1930s and 1940s, it was sung to a slower tune. In 1945, while working in Mumbai with IPTA (Indian Peoples Theater Association), the sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar was asked to compose the music for the K.A. Abbas movie Dharti ka Laal and the Chetan Anand movie Neecha Nagar. During this time, Ravi Shankar was asked to compose music for the song Saare jahan se accha. In an interview in 2009 with Shekhar Gupta, Ravi Shankar recounts that he felt that the existing tune was too slow and sad. To give it a more inspiring impact, he set it to a stronger tune which is today the popular tune of this song, which they then tried out as a group song.[9] It was later recorded by the singer Lata Mangeshkar to a 3rd altogether different tune. Stanzas (1), (3), (4), and (6) of the song became an unofficial national song in India,[1] and the Ravi Shankar version was adopted as the official quick march of the Indian Armed Forces.[10] The song was set as a marching tune by Antsher Lobo.

Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian astronaut, employed the first line of the song in 1984 to describe to then prime minister Indira Gandhi how India appeared from outer space.[11]

In his inaugural speech, the former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh quoted this poem at his first press conference after becoming the Prime Minister.[12]

Text of poem

Text in nastaliq script of Urdu
Urdu
Romanisation (ALA-LC)

سارے جہاں سے اچھا ہندوستاں ہمارا
ہم بلبلیں ہیں اس کی، یہ گلستاں ہمارا

غربت میں ہوں اگر ہم، رہتا ہے دل وطن میں
سمجھو وہیں ہمیں بھی دل ہو جہاں ہمارا

پربت وہ سب سے اونچا، ہمسایہ آسماں کا
وہ سنتری ہمارا، وہ پاسباں ہمارا

گودی میں کھیلتی ہیں اس کی ہزاروں ندیاں
گلشن ہے جن کے دم سے رشکِ جناں ہمارا

اے آبِ رودِ گنگا! وہ دن ہیں یاد تجھ کو؟
اترا ترے کنارے جب کارواں ہمارا

مذہب نہیں سکھاتا آپس میں بیر رکھنا
ہندی ہیں ہم، وطن ہے ہندوستاں ہمارا

یونان و مصر و روما سب مٹ گئے جہاں سے
اب تک مگر ہے باقی نام و نشاں ہمارا

کچھ بات ہے کہ ہستی مٹتی نہیں ہماری
صدیوں رہا ہے دشمن دورِ زماں ہمارا

اقبال! کوئی محرم اپنا نہيں جہاں میں
معلوم کیا کسی کو دردِ نہاں ہمارا!‏

Sāre jahāṉ se acchā, Hindositāṉ[13] hamārā
Ham bulbuleṉ haiṉ is kī, yih gulsitāṉ[13] hamārā

G̱ẖurbat meṉ hoṉ agar ham, rahtā hai dil wat̤an meṉ
Samjho wuhīṉ hameṉ bhī dil ho jahāṉ hamārā

Parbat wuh sab se ūṉchā, hamsāyah āsmāṉ kā
Wuh santarī hamārā, wuh pāsbāṉ hamārā

Godī meṉ kheltī haiṉ is kī hazāroṉ nadiyāṉ
Guls̱ẖan hai jin ke dam se ras̱ẖk-i janāṉ hamārā

Ai āb-i rūd-i Gangā! wuh din haiṉ yād tujh ko?
Utrā tire[14] kināre jab kārwāṉ hamārā

Maẕhab nahīṉ sikhātā āpas meṉ bair rakhnā
Hindī haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai Hindositāṉ hamārā

Yūnān o-Miṣr o-Rūmā, sab miṭ ga'e jahāṉ se
Ab tak magar hai bāqī, nām o-nis̱ẖaṉ hamārā

Kuch bāt hai kih hastī, miṭtī nahīṉ hamārī
Ṣadiyoṉ rahā hai dus̱ẖman daur-i zamāṉ hamārā

Iqbāl! ko'ī maḥram apnā nahīṉ jahāṉ meṉ
Maʿlūm kyā kisī ko dard-i nihāṉ hamārā!

Text in the Devanagari script of Hindi

In India, the text of the poem is often rendered in the Devanagari script of Hindi:

Hindi

सारे जहाँ से अच्छा हिन्दोसिताँ हमारा
हम बुलबुलें हैं इसकी यह गुलसिताँ हमारा

ग़ुर्बत में हों अगर हम, रहता है दिल वतन में
समझो वहीं हमें भी दिल हो जहाँ हमारा

परबत वह सबसे ऊँचा, हम्साया आसमाँ का
वह संतरी हमारा, वह पासबाँ हमारा

गोदी में खेलती हैं इसकी हज़ारों नदियाँ
गुल्शन है जिनके दम से रश्क-ए-जनाँ हमारा

ऐ आब-ए-रूद-ए-गंगा! वह दिन हैं याद तुझको?
उतरा तिरे किनारे जब कारवाँ हमारा

मज़्हब नहीं सिखाता आपस में बैर रखना
हिंदी हैं हम, वतन है हिन्दोसिताँ हमारा

यूनान-ओ-मिस्र-ओ-रूमा सब मिट गए जहाँ से
अब तक मगर है बाक़ी नाम-ओ-निशाँ हमारा

कुछ बात है कि हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी
सदियों रहा है दुश्मन दौर-ए-ज़माँ हमारा

इक़्बाल! कोई महरम अपना नहीं जहाँ में
मालूम क्या किसी को दर्द-ए-निहाँ हमारा !

English translation

Better than the entire world, is our Hind,
We are its nightingales, and it (is) our garden abode

If we are in an alien place, the heart remains in the homeland,
Know us to be only there where our heart is.

That tallest mountain, that shade-sharer of the sky,
It (is) our sentry, it (is) our watchman

In its lap where frolic thousands of rivers,
Whose vitality makes our garden the envy of Paradise.

O the flowing waters of the Ganges, do you remember that day
When our caravan first disembarked on your waterfront?

Religion does not teach us to bear animosity among ourselves
We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindustan.

In a world in which ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished
Our own attributes (name and sign) live on today.

There is something about our existence for it doesn't get wiped
Even though, for centuries, the time-cycle of the world has been our enemy.

Iqbal! We have no confidant in this world
What does any one know of our hidden pain?

Iqbal's transformation from Indian nationalist to Islamic fundamentalist

After writing "Sare Jahan se Accha" in 1904, her wrote a contrasting Tarana-e-Milli in 1910, after transforming in 1905 from a supporter of Indian nationalism ("India/nation first") calling for Hindu–Muslim unity to a Muslim nationalism and sectarian/communal Muslim separatism ("religion/islam/muslims first") who rejected Indian nationalism and territorial nationalism.[6][3][4][5] He is now regarded as the spiritual father of the Pakistan because on basis of his speech the two-nation theory was formulated.[2] "The tense connection between Indian nationalism, muslim separatism and pan-Islamic geography [that] are evident in the relationship between two of Iqbal's best known poems, Tarana-e-Hind and Tarana-e-Milli", these two poems which are "inextricably linked through their mutual opposition ... imply each other through their opposition" manifesting "the tension within Indian Muslim separatism itself, which stemmed from the securing of a nationality within Indian on the basis of an ideology which saw itself as the antithesis of the idea of nationalism."'[7]

Writing of Islamic Tarana-e-Milli

In 1910, Iqbal wrote another song for children, "Tarana-e-Milli" (Anthem of the Religious Community), which was composed in the same metre and rhyme scheme as "Saare Jahan Se Achcha", but which renounced much of the sentiment of the earlier song.[15] The sixth stanza of "Saare Jahan Se Achcha" (1904), which is often quoted as proof of Iqbal's secular outlook:

Maẕhab nahīṉ sikhātā āpas meṉ bair rakhnā
Hindī haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai Hindūstāṉ hamārā

Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves
We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindustan.

contrasted significantly with the first stanza of Tarana-e-Milli (1910) reads:[15]

Cīn o-ʿArab hamārā, Hindūstāṉ hamārā
Muslim haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai sārā jahāṉ hamārā

Central Asia[16] and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours
We are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland.[15]

Iqbal's world view had now changed; it had become both global and Islamic. Instead of singing of Hindustan, "our homeland," the new song proclaimed that "our homeland is the whole world."[17] Two decades later, in his presidential address to the Muslim League annual conference in Allahabad in 1930, he supported a separate nation-state in the Muslim majority areas of the sub-continent, an idea that inspired the creation of Pakistan.[18]

Saare Jahan Se Achcha has remained popular in India for nearly a century. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have sung it over a hundred times when he was imprisoned at Yerawada Jail in Pune in the 1930s.[12] India's first cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma used the poem's title to describe India, when Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from space. The song is popular in India in schools, and as a marching song for the Indian armed forces, played during public events and parades.[8] It is played by the Armed forces Massed Bands each year for the Indian Independence day, republic day and at the culmination of Beating the Retreat.[19]

See also

References

Notes
  1. "'Taranah-e Hindi' (1904) was explicitly written as a patriotic song; Iqbal also composed a number of others meant for children, but this one has always been the most popular. This little ghazal ..."[1]
  2. This little ghazal, composed by the man widely considered to be the, now, philosophical father of Pakistan, is now extremely popular—but only in India."[1]

Citations
  1. Pritchett, Frances. 2000. "Tarana-e-Hindi and Taranah-e-Milli: A Study in Contrasts." Columbia University Department of South Asian Studies.
  2. Allama Iqbal: Pakistan’s national poet & the man who gave India ‘Saare jahan se achha’, The Print, 9 November, 2018.
  3. Mohammed Shafi Agwani, 1986, Islamic Fundamentalism in India, Page 11.
  4. 1985, Far Eastern Economic Review, Page 44
  5. Kunal Ghosh, 2008, Separatism in North-East India: Role of Religion, Language and Script, Page 124
  6. Iqbal Singh Sevea, 2012, The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India, Page 27.
  7. Chad Hillier, , Muhammad Iqbal: Essays on the Reconstruction of Modern Muslim Thought.
  8. "Saare Jahan Se Accha: Facts about the song and its creator". India Today. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  9. Gupta, Shekhar (5 December 2009). "Walk the talk - Interview with Pandit Ravi Shankar". NDTV. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  10. Indian Military Marches.
  11. India Empowered to Me Is: Saare Jahan Se Achcha, the home of world citizens
  12. Times of India: Saare Jahan Se..., it's 100 now
  13. "Here they are to be pronounced not Hindūstāṉ and gu-lis-tāṉ, respectively, as usual, but Hindositāṉ and gul-si-tāṉ, respectively, to suit the meter." From: Pritchett, F. 2004. "Taraanah-i-Hindii" Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
  14. Pronounced "tiray" to suit the meter, in contrast to the usual "tayray." From: From: Pritchett, F. 2004. "Taraanah-i-Hindii" Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
  15. Iqbal: Tarana-e-Milli, 1910. Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
  16. Although "Chin" refers to China in modern Urdu, in Iqbal's day it referred to Central Asia, coextensive with historical Turkestan. See also, Iqbal: Tarana-e-Milli, 1910. Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
  17. Pritchett, Frances. 2000. Tarana-e-Hindi and Tarana-e-Milli: A Close Comparison. Columbia University Department of South Asian Studies.
  18. A look at Iqbal; The Sunday Tribune – May 28, 2006
  19. "Indian tunes to set mood at 'Beating Retreat' today". The Tribune. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.