Rabindranath Tagore wrote the poem "Jana Gana Mana" at the age of 51, in 1911. The poem was later adopted as the national anthem of India in 1950 (after Tagore passed away, in 1941).
Tagore wrote the English version of the anthem titled "The Morning Song of India" in 1919, when he was 58 years old. The English version captures the essence of the original poem and its spirit of unity and pride in India.
The Morning Song of India
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha, of Dravid
and Orissa and Bengal; it echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is chanted by the
surging waves of the Indian Sea. They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand, thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
Day and night thy voice goes out from land to land calling the Hindus,
Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains round thy throne and the Parsees, Mussalmans and
Christians. The East and the West join hands in their prayer to thee, and the
garland of love is woven. Thou bringest the hearts of all people into the harmony
of one life, thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
The procession of pilgrims passes over the endless road rugged with the
rise and fall of nations; and it resounds with the thunder of thy wheels,
Eternal Charioteer! Through the dire days of doom thy trumpet sounds and
men are led by thee across death. Thy finger points the path to all people,
Oh dispenser of India's destiny!
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee!
The darkness was dense and deep was the night. My country lay in a deathlike
silence of swoon. But thy Mother-arms were round her and thine eyes gazed
upon her troubled face in sleepless love through her hours of ghostly dreams.
Thou art the companion and the saviour of the people in their sorrows, thou
dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.