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===Historical significance=== The composition was first sung during a convention of the [[Indian National Congress]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] on 27 December 1911.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-chatterjee310803.htm |title=Tagore and Jana Gana Mana |work=Monish R. Chatterjee |access-date=14 August 2008 |archive-date=17 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917033936/http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-chatterjee310803.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> It was sung on the second day of the convention. The event was reported as such in the British Indian press: <blockquote> "The Bengali poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]] sang a song composed by him specially to welcome the Emperor." (''Statesman'', 28 December 1911)<br />"The proceedings began with the singing by [[Rabindranath Tagore]] of a song specially composed by him in honour of the Emperor." (''Englishman'', 28 December 1911)<br />"When the proceedings of the Indian National Congress began on Wednesday 27 December 1911, a Bengali song in welcome of the Emperor was sung. A resolution welcoming the Emperor and Empress was also adopted unanimously." (''Indian'', 29 December 1911) </blockquote> Many historians aver that the newspaper reports cited above were misguided. The confusion arose in the Indian press since a different song, "Badshah Humara" written in [[Hindi]] by Rambhuj Chaudhary,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/pkDatta092004.html |title=India: Are we still singing for the Empire? |work=Pradip Kumar Datta |access-date=30 August 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924093341/http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/pkDatta092004.html |url-status=live }}</ref> was sung on the same occasion in praise of [[George V]]. The nationalist press in India stated this difference of events clearly: <blockquote> "The proceedings of the Congress party session started with a prayer in Bengali to praise God (song of benediction). This was followed by a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V. Then another song was sung welcoming King George V." (''[[Amrita Bazar Patrika]]'', 28 December 1911)<br />"The annual session of Congress began by singing a song composed by the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Then a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V was passed. A song paying a heartfelt homage to King George V was then sung by a group of boys and girls." (''The Bengalee'', 28 December 1911) </blockquote> Even the report of the annual session of the Indian National Congress of December 1911 stated this difference: <blockquote> "On the first day of 28th annual session of the Congress, proceedings started after singing [[Vande Mataram]]. On the second day the work began after singing a patriotic song by Babu Rabindranath Tagore. Messages from well-wishers were then read and a resolution was passed expressing loyalty to King George V. Afterwards the song composed for welcoming King George V and Queen Mary was sung." </blockquote> On 10 November 1937, Tagore wrote a letter to Pulin Bihari Sen about the controversy. That letter in Bengali can be found in Tagore's biography'' Rabindrajibani, volume II page 339'' by ''Prabhatkumar Mukherjee''. <blockquote> "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 Bidhata [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."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/tagore-and-that-song/article10886480.ece|title=Tagore and that song|website=[[The Hindu]] |date=22 June 2015 |access-date=21 July 2021|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423093415/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/tagore-and-that-song/article10886480.ece|url-status=live|last1=Mitra |first1=Anirban |last2=Bhattacharyya |first2=Souvik }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33438577|title=BBC World Asia|work=BBC News |date=9 July 2015 |access-date=21 July 2021|archive-date=18 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918114713/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33438577|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote> Again in his letter of 19 March 1939, Tagore writes:<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16241465|title=BBC News β Indian anthem Jana Gana Mana turns 100|date=27 December 2011|publisher=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=8 July 2012|archive-date=9 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109025149/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16241465|url-status=live}}</ref> <blockquote> "I should only insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such unbounded stupidity as to sing in praise of George the Fourth or George the Fifth as the Eternal Charioteer leading the pilgrims on their journey through countless ages of the timeless history of mankind." ''(Purvasa, Phalgun, 1354, p. 738.)'' </blockquote> These clarifications by Tagore regarding the controversy occurred only after the death of [[George V|King George V]] in 1936. Earlier, in 1915, after Tagore was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Literature Prize]], George V had conferred a [[knight]]hood on him, which he renounced in 1919 in protest over the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]]; writing a letter addressed to the [[Governor-General of India|viceroy of India]] [[Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford|Lord Chelmsford]]: "The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of my country men."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dart.columbia.edu/library/tagore-letter/letter.html |title=Letter from Rabindranath Tagore to Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India |publisher=Digital Anthropology Resources for Teaching, Columbia University and the London School of Economics |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=25 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825105408/http://dart.columbia.edu/library/tagore-letter/letter.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tagore-renounced-his-Knighthood-in-protest-for-Jalianwalla-Bagh-mass-killing/articleshow/7967616.cms | title=Tagore renounced his Knighthood in protest for Jalianwalla Bagh mass killing | newspaper=The Times of India | publisher=The Times of India, 13 April 2011 | access-date=25 September 2021 | archive-date=10 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910060559/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tagore-renounced-his-Knighthood-in-protest-for-Jalianwalla-Bagh-mass-killing/articleshow/7967616.cms | url-status=live }}</ref>
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