Quietly comes the new National Anthem
-By Madan Regmi
After dillydally of eight months the Eight Party Government finally declared a National Anthem almost quietly on August 3rd 2007- this day will be remembered as a historic one as on this day Nepal got a National Anthem-where the country and the people have an honorable place.
This National Anthem has replaced the one thrust on the people for over forty years. In reminiscence, in 1899 the then Rana Prime Minister Bir Shamsher Rana had introduced two salutation music, one for the Monarch and the next for the Prime Minister. Both of these were without lyrics. Bir Shamsher had seized power by massacring the siblings of Junga Bahadur Rana, the founder of the Rana regime. End of the Rana rule in 1950 also led to the elimination of the Rana Prime Minister’s salutation song. The Monarch’s salutation music however was declared as the National Anthem by the absolute Monarch Mahendra in 1962- and its lyric was written by Chakra Pani Chalishe. This “national anthem”, a eulogy of the Monarchy, was meant to alienate the Nepalese people from the patriotic feelings right from their childhood and to make them Royalist. It read:
“May glory crown you, courageous Sovereign,
You, the gallant Nepali,
Shri Panch Maharajadhiraja, our glorious ruler,
May he live for many years to come
And may the number of his subjects increase
Let every Nepalese sing this with joy.”
Nepal reeled without National Anthem for eight months. The Eight Party Government in dilemma yet couldn’t afford to lose its face. Thus it conceded to the popular will and finally declared Byakul Maila’s (Pradip Rai’s) lyrics which was given music by the famous composer Mr. Ambar Gurung as the National Anthem. This reads:
“Of hundreds of blooming flowers, we the one garland - Nepali
Sovereign, spread out from Mechi to Mahakali.
Amassing nature's millions of resources
By the blood of heroes, independent and immovable.
Land of knowledge, land of peace, Terai hill Himalaya
Indivisible this beloved, our motherland Nepal.
The diverse races, languages, faiths, and cultures are comprehensive
Our progressive nation, long live long live Nepal.”
(Unofficial translation)
This National Anthem has represented the people and the nation to an extent. This of course is an achievement that demonstrates the rising people’s power. The Royalists, nevertheless, are after smearing the patriotic lyrics of Byakul Maila. These Royalists should understand that the so-called national anthem declared by King Mahendra was a humiliation to the nation and the Nepalese people. One can of course say that Maila’s lyrics could have been more forceful. Of course there are rooms for improvement in the future.
The Royalist are so blind that they don’t even know the universally acknowledge definition of the national anthem which says, “a national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people”. Nevertheless the National Anthem should have been presented to the people in a grand way accompanied by National celebrations.
For an apt judgment of the Nepalese of all over the world, it will be worthwhile to illustrate the national anthems of some few countries at least, so that they will have some idea of how far we have achieved in the making of a Glorious National anthem.
Bangladesh
My Bengal of Gold,
I love you.
Forever your skies,
Your air set my heart in tune
As if it were a flute.
In spring, O mother mine,
The fragrance from your mango groves
Makes me wild with joy,
Ah, what a thrill!
In autumn, O mother mine,
In the full blossomed paddy fields
I have seen spread all over sweet smiles.
Ah, what a beauty, what shades,
What an affection, and what a tenderness!
What a quilt have you spread
At the feet of banyan trees
And along the banks of rivers!
O mother mine, words from your lips
Are like nectar to my ears.
Ah, what a thrill!
If sadness, O mother mine,
Casts a gloom on your face,
My eyes are filled with tears!
China
Arise! All who refuse to be slaves!
Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!
As the Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,
All forcefully expend their last cries.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
May our million hearts beat as one,
Brave the enemy's fire, March on!
Brave the enemy's fire, March on!
March on! March on! On!
Cuba
Hasten to battle, men of Bayamo,
That the homeland looks proudly to you.
Do not fear a glorious death
Because to die for the country is to live.
To live in chains
Is to live in dishonour and ignominy.
Hear the clarion call,
Hasten, brave ones, to battle!
France
Arise, children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us, the tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised. (repeat)
Do you hear in the fields
The howling of these savage soldiers?
They are coming into your midst
To cut the throats of your sons, your wives!
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march, let us march!
May tainted blood
Water our fields!
Sacred patriotic love,
Lead and support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty,
Fight back with your defenders! (repeat)
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone,
So that your enemies, in their last breath,
See your triumph and our glory!
To arms, citizens...
Monaco
Forever, in our land,
One flag has flown in the wind
Forever, the colours red and white
Have symbolised our liberty
Great and small [people] have always respected them.
Sri Lanka
Mother Lanka we salute Thee!
Plenteous in prosperity, Thou,
Beauteous in grace and love,
Laden with corn and luscious fruit
And fragrant flowers of radiant hue,
Giver of life and all good things,
Our land of joy and victory,
Receive our grateful praise sublime,
Lanka! we worship Thee.
Thou gavest us Knowledge and Truth,
Thou art our strength and inward faith,
Our light divine and sentient being,
Breath of life and liberation.
Grant us, bondage free, inspiration.
Inspire us for ever.
In wisdom and strength renewed,
Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended,
In love enfolded, a mighty nation
Marching onward, all as one,
Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom.
United States
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust"
