Sare Jahan se Accha
Saare Jahan Se Achchha (Urdu:سارے جہاں سے اچھا), formal name: Tarānā-e-Hindī (Urdu: ترانۂ ہندی "Anthem of the People of Hindustan"), is one of the enduring patriotic poems of the Urdu language. Written for children in the ghazal style of Urdu poetry by poet Muhammad Iqbal, the poem was published in the weekly journal Ittehad on 16 August 1904.[1] Recited by Iqbal the following year at Government College, Lahore, now in Pakistan, it quickly became an anthem of opposition to the British rule in India. The song, an ode to Hindustan—the land comprising present-day Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan—both celebrated and cherished the land even as it lamented its age-old anguish. As Tarana-e-Hindi, it was later published in 1924 in the Urdu book Bang-i-Dara.
Iqbal was a lecturer at the Government College, Lahore at that time, and was invited by student Lala Har Dayal to preside over a function. Instead of delivering a speech, Iqbal sang Saare Jahan Se Achcha. 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 was still in his idealistic phase and viewed the future society of the subcontinent as both a pluralistic and 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.
Iqbal's transformation and 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.[2] The sixth stanza of Saare Jahan Se Achcha (1904), which is often quoted as proof of Iqbal's secular outlook:
Maźhab nahīⁿ sikḣātā āpas mēⁿ bẹ̄r rakḣnā
Hindī hẹ̄ⁿ ham, wațan hẹ̄ Hindūstāⁿ hamārā
or,
Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves
We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindoostan.
contrasted significantly with the first stanza of Tarana-e-Milli (1910) reads:[2]
Čīn o-ʿArab hamārā, Hindūstāⁿ hamārā
Muslim hẹ̄ⁿ ham, waṭan hẹ̄ sārā jahāⁿ hamārā
or,
Central Asia[3] and Arabia are ours, Hindoostan is ours
We are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland.[2]
Iqbal's world view had now changed; it had become both global and Islamic. Instead of singing of India, "our homeland," the new song proclaimed that "our homeland is the whole world."[4] Two decades later, in his presidential address to the Muslim League annual conference in Allahabad in 1930, he was to propose a separate nation-state in the Muslim majority areas of the sub-continent, an idea that inspired the creation of Pakistan.[5]
Popularity in India
In spite of its creator's disavowal of it, Saare Jahan Se Achcha has remained popular in India for over 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.[6] The poem was set to music in the 1950s by sitarist Ravi Shankar and recorded by singer Lata Mangeshkar. Stanzas (1), (3), (4), and (6) of the song became an unofficial national anthem in India,[1] and were also turned into the official quick march of the Indian Armed Forces.[7] Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian cosmonaut, employed the first line of the song in 1984 to describe to then prime minister Indira Gandhi how India appeared from outer space.[8] Current prime minister, Manmohan Singh, quoted the poem at his first press conference.[1]
Text
| Urdu | Hindi | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
|
سارے جہاں سے اچھا ہندوستاں ہمارا غربت میں ہوں اگر ہم، رہتا ہے دل وطن میں پربت وہ سب سے اونچا، ہمسایہ آسماں کا گودی میں کھیلتیں ہیں اس کی ہزاروں ندیاں اے آبِ رودِ گنگا! وہ دن ہیں یاد تجھ کو؟ مذہب نہیں سکھاتا آپس میں بیر رکھنا یونان و مصر و روما سب مٹ گۓ جہاں سے کچھ بات ہے کہ ہستی مٹتی نہیں ہماری اقبال! کوئی محرم اپنا نہيں جہاں میں |
सारे जहाँ से अच्छा हिन्दूस्ताँ हमारा ग़ुरबत में हों अगर हम, रहता है दिल वतन में परबत वो सबसे ऊँचा, हमसाया आसमाँ का गोदी में खेलतीं हैं इसकी हज़ारों नदियाँ ऐ आब-ए-रूद-ए-गंगा! वो दिन हैं याद तुझको? मज़हब नहीं सिखाता आपस में बैर रखना यूनान-ओ-मिस्र-ओ-रूमा सब मिट गए जहाँ से कुछ बात है कि हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी इक़्बाल! कोई मेहरम अपना नहीं जहाँ में |
|
Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan, If we are in an alien place, the heart remains in the homeland, That tallest mountain, that shade-sharer of the sky, In its lap frolic those thousands of rivers, O the flowing waters of the Ganges, do you remember that day Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves In a world in which ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished without trace Such is our existence that it cannot be erased Iqbal! We have no confidence in this world |
Notes and references
- ^ a b c Pritchett, Frances. 2000. "Tarana-e-Hindi and Taranah-e-Milli: A Study in Contrasts." Columbia University Department of South Asian Studies.
- ^ a b c Iqbal: Tarana-e-Milli, 1910. Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Pritchett, Frances. 2000. Tarana-e-Hindi and Tarana-e-Milli: A Close Comparison. Columbia University Department of South Asian Studies.
- ^ A look at Iqbal; The Sunday Tribune - May 28, 2006
- ^ Times of India: Saare Jahan Se..., it's 100 now
- ^ Indian Military Marches.
- ^ India Empowered to Me Is: Saare Jahan Se Achcha, the home of world citizens
- ^ "Here it is to be pronounced not gu-lis-tāⁿ as usual, but gul-si-tāⁿ, to suit the meter." From: Pritchett, F. 2004. "Taraanah-i-Hindii" Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
- ^ 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.