The significance of our Independence

Many of us have forgotten the significance of our independence.
How we got it and the meaning of our national flag, anthem, song etc.
Atul has sent the following piece, just to remind us of those things.

Few Things About India.....

National Flag

Born on July 22, 1947 in the Constituent Assembly on the eve of the Independence, the Indian national Flag is a horizontal tricolor. When the adhoc Committee on the Flag adopted it as the National Flag of free India, Jawaharlal Nehru made a memorable speech and concluded saying :

"...this flag that I have the honor to present to you is... a flag of freedom,
not only for ourselves, but to all people, who may see it.."

A band of deep saffron is at the top, white in middle, and dark green is at the bottom. The three bands of colors are in equal proportions. While in the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue. This wheel is an adaptation from the sculpted wheel, called Chakra, the wheel of law, appearing on the abacus of Sarnath Capital of Asoka, the ancient Indian emperor. It has 24 spokes and the diameter approximates the width of the white band.

With all these things the width and length of the Tricolor is supposed to be in the proportion of 2 to 3. The design of the Tricolor has been adopted by the constitutional Assembly of India on 22nd July, 1947. The flag was designed as a symbol of freedom. Its use and display are, however, regulated by a code

Significance of the Tricolor:
Each of the three colors in our Tricolor has a special significance. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation. The white, is meant for purity and truth. While the green is for faith and fertility. The navy blue wheel in the center of the white band signifies which denotes continual progress of the country and its blue wheel signifies the continuity of the nation's progress which is deemed to be as boundless as the blue sky above and as fathomless as the deep blue sea that keeps its hands and feet washed.

National Anthem......

The Constituent Assembly adopted the Indian national anthem from a song written and composed by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on January 24, 1950. Before this Vande Mataram written by Bankim Chandra Chattapadhya
was the National Anthem of India. Later Constituent Assembly of India,( Vol.XII, 24-1-1950) opined: "The composition consisting of words and music known as Janaganamana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations
as the Government may authorize as occasion arises, ..."


Only the first of the five stanzas was designated as the anthem.
The anthem goes:

Jaana Gaana Maana Adhinayaka Jayehe
Bharata bhagya vidhata;
Punjaba Sindhu Gujarata Maratha,
Dravida Utkala Banga,
Vindhya, Himachala, Jamuna, Ganga,
Ucchhala Jaladhitaranga;
Taba Shubha Naame Jaage
Taba Shubha Ashish Maage
Gaye taba jaya gaatha.
Jana gana mangala dayaka jaya he
Bharata bhagya vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

The English rendition of the song goes like this:

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of the Punjab,
Sind, Gujarat, and Maratha,
Of the Dravid, and Orissa and Bengal.
It echoes in the hills of Vindhyas and,
Himalayas, mingles in the music of the
Jamuna and the Ganges and is chanted by
the waves of the Indian sea.
The pray for the blessings,
and sing by the praise,
The saving of all people
waits in thy hand.
Thou dispenser of India's destiny,
Victory, victory, victory to thee.





National Emblem..

The National Emblem of India has an origin steeped in the culture and myriad colors of India. A symbol of the modern Indian republic, the emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion, capital of Emperor Ashoka the Great as preserved in the Sarnath Museum situated near Varanasi in the north Indian province of Uttar Pradesh.

The National Emblem of India is a near-replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath. The Lion Capital was erected atop a Pillar in around 250 BC by Emperor Ashoka the Great to mark the spot where Buddha first preached his Dharma (gospel of peace and emancipation) and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded.

In the original Lion Capital of Emperor Ashoka, there stand four Asiatic lions, back to back, mounted on a circular abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. These wheels stand for the "Ashoka Chakra" or "Dharmachakra" or the "Eternal wheel of law" as mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. The whole of the Lion Capital was carved out of a single block of polished sandstone.

The Indian National Emblem, modeled on the Lion Capital, features 3 lions. The fourth lion is hidden from sight since it is positioned at the rear end; so is the bell-shaped lotus flower situated beneath. The frieze beneath the lions is shown with a wheel in the center, a bull on the right, a galloping horse on the left, and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left. The wheel at the centre of the abacus symbolizes the "Dharma Chakra".

The three lions (the one hidden from the front view excluded) represent power, courage and confidence, and rest on a circular abacus girded by four smaller animals that are separated by intervening wheels. These four animals are the guardians of the four directions:
the lion of the north,
the elephant of the east,
the horse of the south and
the bull of the west.

The abacus rests on a lotus in full bloom, instancing the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration. Inscribed below the emblem in Devanagari script is the motto 'Satyameva Jayate' meaning "Truth Alone Triumphs". It is a quote from the Mundaka Upanishad, the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas.

The Lion Pillar was adopted as the National Emblem of India on 26 January 1950, the day India became a republic.

The National emblem is used only for official purposes and commands the highest respect and loyalty. It is the official seal of the President of India and Central and State Governments. It forms a part of the official letterhead of the Government of India. It also appears prominently on all Indian currency as well as on the diplomatic and national Passport of the Republic of India. The wheel on it, known as "Dharma Chakra" or popularly "Ashoka Chakra", has even been placed onto the center of the modern National Flag of India.

In the contemporary times, the national emblem of India stands as a symbol of modern India's reassertion of its ancient commitment to world peace and goodwill. To the 1 billion Indians, it serves as an inspiration and is a matter of pride. To the world, it stands as glowing symbol of independent India's identity and sovereignty.


THE VOICE OF FREEDOM

Jawaharlal Nehru, gave this following speech as India's first Prime Minister to the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi at midnight on August 14, 1947. Though this speech is full of ideals and embellishments to inspire a nation, about to make a new beginning, it is historic and can be recognized as the first voice of Independent India.

'Awake to freedom' "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, then an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again.

The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now.

Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labor and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagines that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India whose representatives we are, we make appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell."

---Speech by Jawaharlal Nehru

National Song

Designated as the National Song of India, "Vande Mataram" had three great minds working over it. It required the genius of Bankimchandra Chattyopaddhay to pen the beautiful verses of "Vande Mataram", the flair of Rabindranath Tagore to set it to a glorious tune and the skill of Shri Aurobindo Ghosh to render it in English with the essence of the song intact. Go over the Sanskrit lyrics of "Vande Mataram", as well as its English translation. Read the inspiring lines of the pathbreaking composition out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism.

Sanskrit Version

Vande Mataram!
Sujalam suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim, sumadhura bhashinim,
Sukhadam, varadam, Mataram!

Saptakotikantha kalakala ninada karale
Dvisaptakoti bhujair dhrita-khara karavale
Abala kena ma eta bale
Bahubala dharinim, namami tarinim,
Ripudalavarinim Mataram!

Tumi vidya, tumi dharma,
Tumi hridi, tumi marma,
Tvam hi pranah sharire!

Bahute tumi ma shakti,
Hridaye tumi ma bhakti,
Tomarayipratima gari mandire mandire!

Tvam hi Durga dashapraharana dharini,
Kamala, Kamaladalaviharini,
Vani, vidyadayini namami tvam,

Namami Kamalam, amalam, atulam,
Sujalam, suphalam, Mataram,
Vande Mataram!

Shyamalam, saralam, susmitam, bhushitam,
Dharanim, bharanim, Mataram!

- Shri Bankimchandra Chattyopadhay

English Version

Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!
Though who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Though art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerves the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her
swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair

In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Lovilest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free!

- Translation by Shree Aurobindo.

The Indian National Pledge is commonly recited by Indians in unison at public events, during daily assemblies in many Indian schools, and during the Independence Day and Republic Day Observance Ceremonies. The words of the National Pledge goes like this:

General Pledge (in English)

India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters.(* in-laws )
I love my country. I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.
I shall always strive to be worthy of it.
I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders, respect, and treat everyone with courtesy.
To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.
In their well being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

National Integration Pledge (in English)

I solemnly pledge to work with dedication to preserve and strengthen the freedom and integrity of the nation.

I further affirm that I shall never resort to violence and that all differences and disputes relating to religion, language, region or other political or economic grievances should be settled by peaceful and constitutional means.

Facts..

Here are some amazing facts that will make you more proud to be an Indian. Read on ...
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software, according to a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects there. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our
civilization.India was the richest country on earth until the British invaded in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.

Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun in the 5th century - 365.258756484 days. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community, that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers

The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC. Spiritual science, Yoga and most of the religions were found in India and the teachings spread all over the world by Indian Mystics and the Saints.

The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

I Wish U A Happy Independence Day..........

The Inner meaning of Independence is not celebrating the day...its to over come our material thoughts

...............JAI HIND..............