Though the tune composed by Margaret Cousins in February 1919 is almost the same as it is sung today, her notation was a bit slow, reflecting the mood in which Tagore sang it. Herbert Murrill, professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, fast-paced the tune, the way it is sung today. Murrill, at the request of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, changed the slow hymnal music into a martial march on the lines of the French national song.
A.D. RANGARAJANMadanapalle
