Subh Sukh Chain

Subh Sukh Chain (Hindi: शुभ सुख चैन) was the national anthem (Qaumi Tarana) of the Provisional Government of Free India (Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind). The song was based on a Bengali poem Jana Gana Mana (the complete song) by Rabindranath Tagore. After Mr. Bose shifted to Southeast Asia from Germany in 1943, he with the help of Mumtaz Hussain, a writer with the Azad Hind Radio and Colonel Abid Hassan Saffrani of the INA, had rewritten Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana into Hindustani Subh Sukh Chain for being used as the national anthem.^[1]

Netaji attached great significance to music as a source of inspiration for a force that was being prepared to fight till the finish. Netaji came down to the then INA broadcasting station at the Cathay Building in Singapore and asked Capt.Ram Singh Thakur ^[2] to compose music for a song translated from Rabindra Nath Tagore's original Bengali score. He asked him to give the song a martial tune that would not put people to sleep but awaken those who were sleeping. India attained Independence on 15 August 1947, and the next morning Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Tricolour on the ramparts of the Red Fort and addressed the nation. It was on this occasion that Capt.Ram Singh Thakur was especially invited to play the tune of Qaumi Tarana of the INA along with the members of his orchestra group.^[3]

History

During the, the song Vande Mataram was frequently sung at protest meetings. At the proclamation of the Provisional Government of Free India in Singapore in October 1943, Vande Mataram was sung by the crowd. Muslims were, however, not comfortable with the expressly Hindu metaphors used in the song, and disliked the rabidly communal anti-Muslim tenor of the book, Anandamath, in which it had been first published. The leaders of the INA in Singapore were aware of this problem, and hoped that Subhas Chandra Bose, the head of the INA and the Provisional Government, would settle it. Lakshmi Sahgal, an active INA member, favoured the selection of Jana Gana Mana, which was composed by Rabindranath Tagore and had been sung at sessions of the Indian National Congress. She arranged to have it sung at a women's meeting attended by Bose. Bose was taken by the song, which he thought was truly nationally representative. He did not, however, like the fact that the song was in Sanskritized Bengali and commissioned a free translation in Hindustani.^[4]

The translation, Subh Sukh Chain, was written by Capt. Abid Ali, and its score composed by Ram Singh Thakur.^[3] It took Vande Mataram's place as the official national anthem of the Provisional Government, and was sung at all meetings, including at the final assembly before Bose's departure.^[5] It is sometimes considered a Hindi version of the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana, though its meaning varies from the latter and it is therefore not a true translation.

On 24 Jan 1950,^[6] the then President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad announced the final decision that Jana Gana Mana would be the national anthem of India, a choice determined by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on 2 November 1941 and played as the national anthem of free India first time on 11 September 1942 at Hamburg.

Lyrics

The text of the anthem is as follows^[7] -

--First stanza--

Original Hindi version:

शुभ सुख चैन कि बरखा बरसे , भारत भाग है जागा

पंजाब, सिन्ध, गुजरात, मराठा, द्राविड उत्कल बंगा

चंचल सागर, विन्ध्य, हिमालय, नीला जमुना गंगा

तेरे नित गुण गाएँ, तुझसे जीवन पाएँ

हर तन पाए आषा।

सूरज बन कर जग पर चमके, भारत नाम सुभागा,

जए हो! जए हो! जए हो! जए जए जए जए हो!॥

Roman Transliteration:

Subh sukh chain ki barkha barse, Bharat bhaag hai jaaga.

Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha, Dravid, Utkal, Banga,

Chanchal sagar, Vindhya, Himalaya, Neela Jamuna, Ganga.

Tere nit gun gaayen, Tujhse jivan paayen,

Har tan paaye asha.

Suraj ban kar jag par chamke, Bharat naam subhaga,

Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai, Jai, Jai, Jai Ho!

--Second stanza--

Original Hindi version:

सब के दिल में प्रीत बसाए, तेरी मीठी बाणी

हर सूबे के रहने वाले, हर मज़हब के प्राणी

सब भेद और फ़र्क मिटा के, सब गोद में तेरी आके,

गूंधें प्रेम की माला।

सूरज बन कर जग पर चमके, भारत नाम सुभागा,

जए हो! जए हो! जए हो! जए जए जए जए हो!॥

Roman Transliteration:

Sab ke dil mein preet basaaey, Teri meethi baani.

Har sube ke rahne waale, Har mazhab ke praani,

Sab bhed aur farak mita ke, Sab gaud mein teri aake,

Goondhe prem ki mala.

Suraj ban kar jag par chamke, Bharat naam subhaga,

Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai, Jai, Jai, Jai Ho!

--Third stanza--

Original Hindi version:

शुभ सवेरे पंख पखेरे, तेरे ही गुण गाएँ,

बास भरी भरपूर हवाएँ, जीवन में रुत लाएँ,

सब मिल कर हिन्द पुकारे, जय आज़ाद हिन्द के नारे।

प्यारा देश हमारा।

सूरज बन कर जग पर चमके, भारत नाम सुभागा,

जए हो! जए हो! जए हो! जए जए जए जए हो!॥

Roman Transliteration:

Subh savere pankh pakheru, Tere hi gun gayen,

Baas bhari bharpur hawaaen, Jeevan men rut laayen,

Sab mil kar Hind pukare, Jai Azad Hind ke nare.

Pyaara desh hamara.

Suraj ban kar jag par chamke, Bharat naam subhaga,

Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai Ho! Jai, Jai, Jai, Jai Ho!

See also

• Jana Gana Mana, the National Anthem of India
• Vande Mataram, the National Song of India
• Amar Shonar Bangla, the National Anthem of Bangladesh
• Indian National Army
• Capt.Ram Singh Thakur

References