Jana Gana Mana or Jan Gan Man Lyrics Translation | National Anthem of India

Here is a translation of the India's National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, in a very literal way, with most of the words' meanings and in some places, details of how they join, too. Since it's very literal, the poetics of the original one are lost, but the idea is to make it easy to understand here, so I have kept the focus on the meaning and explanation. Jana Gana Mana was written by 'Gurudev' Rabindranath Tagore.

jana gaNa mana adhinayaka jaya he
bhaarata bhaagya vidhaataa

We hail you, O ruler of people's hearts,
and the decider of India's destiny.

[jana gaNa means people, man is of course heart/mind, adhinayak is one who rules. bhaagya-vidhaata is who decides the fate. jaya literally means victory, but jaya he could be considered as 'hail you.']



panjaab, sindh, gujaraat, maraaThaa,
draaviR, utkala, banga,

[These are all states of undivided India. draaviR or dravid means the southern part of India, the dravidian areas. Utkal is Orissa, or rather Odisha. Banga of course is Bengal and Maratha present day Maharashtra.]

vindhya, himaachala, yamunaa, gangaa,
uchchhala-jaladhi-taranga,

Vindhya (mountain ranges), himaachal (the mountains of the present day Himachal Pradesh), Ganges and Yamuna, and the rising waves of the sea,

[uchchhala is rising, much like Hindi's uchhalti hui, jaladhi is sea, tarang is wave.]

tava shubha naame jaage
tava shubha aashisha maange
gaahe tava jaya gaathaa

[now this is continuation from the past two lines, that is the names of the states/regions and the mountains, rivers etc.]
-all wake with your good/gracious name,
ask for your blessings,
sing the story of your victories.

[tava is tumhaara, yours, aashish is blessing, shubh is something like holy, gaahe is gaayein - sing, gaatha is story so jaya gaatha is story of victory.]

jana-gana-mangaladaayaka jaya he
bhaarata bhaagya vidhaataa

We hail you, O one-who-does-good-for-the-people,
O writer of India's destiny.

[mangaladaayak is mangal+daayak. mangal is good, auspicious, and daayak is giver. So one who does good.]

jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
jaya jaya jaya jaya he.

[he or hey is quite like the English hey in the meaning, as it's just a call sign kind of thing, but is very reverent here compared to the English hey which is very casual.]