Jana Gana Mana" (Bengali: জন গণ মন) is the
national anthem of
India. Written in highly
Sanskritised (
Tatsama)
Bengali, the first of five stanzas of a
Brahmo hymn composed and scored by
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Underlying message of the Jana Gana Mana is pluralism. A formal rendition of the national anthem takes fifty-two seconds. A shortened version consisting of the first and last lines (and taking about 20 seconds to play) is also staged occasionally. Tagore wrote down the English translation of the song and along with
Margaret Cousins (an expert in European music and wife of Irish poet
James Cousins), set down the notation at
Madanapalle in
Andhra Pradesh, which is followed only when the song is sung in the original slow rendition style of singing. However, when the National Anthem version of the song is sung, it is often performed in the orchestral/choral adaptation made by the English composer
Herbert Murrill at the behest of
Nehru. An earlier poem by Tagore (
Amar Sonar Bangla) was later selected as the national anthem of
Bangladesh.