INDIANNESS & Patriotic Songs Part - III: Saare Jahan Se Achchha

Apart from Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram, this song also rhyms very well in our heart and we hear it all most of every time during our Republic and Independence day parades. Atleast that's my vivid recollection of listening to the music when I grew up.

Saare Jahan Se Achchha (Urdu: سارے جہاں سے اچھا) is one of the enduring patriotic poems of the Urdu language. Written originally 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. 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. Also known as Tarana-e-Hindi (Urdu: ترانۂ ہندی "Anthem of the People of Hindustan"), it was later published in 1924 in the Urdu book Bang-i-Dara.

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. The poem was set to music in the 1950s by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and recorded by singer Lata Mangeshkar. Stanzas (1), (3), (4), and (6) of the song became an unofficial national anthem in India, and were also turned into the official quick march of the Indian Armed Forces.

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. The song is, however, little known in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

सारे जहाँ से अच्छा, हिन्दोस्तां हमारा हम बुलबुले हैं इसकी, वो गुलसितां हमारा पर्वत वो सबसे ऊँचा, हमसाया आसमाँ का वो संतरी हमारा, वो पासवां हमारा, सारे... गोदी में खेलती हैं, जिसकी हज़ारों नदियां गुलशन है जिसके दम से, रश्क-ए-जिनां हमारा सारे.... मजहब नहीं सिखाता, आपस में बैर रखना हिन्दी हैं हम वतन हैं, हिन्दोस्तां हमारा, सारे...

saare jahaan se achcha hindostaan hamaraa hum bul bulain hai is kee, ye gulsitan hamaraa parbat vo sabse unchaa hum saaya aasma kaa vo santaree hamaraa, vo paasbaan hamaraa godee mein khel tee hain is kee hazaaron nadiya gulshan hai jinke dum se, rashke janna hamaraa mazhab nahee sikhataa apas mein bayr rakhnaa hindee hai hum, vatan hai hindostaan hamaraa

Translation of the poem in English :

Better than all the world, is our India
We are its nightingales and this is our garden

That mountain most high; neighbor to the skies
It is our sentinel; it is our protector

A thousand rivers play in its lap,
Gardens they sustain, the envy of the heavens is ours

Faith does not teach us to harbor grudges between us
We are all Indians and India is our homeland

The poem is sung by Indians on occasions of national importance and in schools as part of morning prayer. After the Indian National Song "Jana Gana Mana" and the Indian National Song "Vande Mataram", Sare Jahan Se Achcha enjoys the reputation as the most popular patriotic song in India. The poem epitomises love for the nation and patriotism.

Here is different version of this song in audio format after a vigor research. I couldn't able to find the video for this song. If you find one, let me know.

A nice video which found on Jana Gana Mana that I want to share too.

Every patriotic songs has its unique texture to invoke synergy and vibe in different ways inside us to enthrilling the patriotic feeling. Each has its own taste with a same common goal to relish the Indianness sense in all of us.

Mehra Bharat Mahan!! Jai Hind!!