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Proud of my country's hallowed past,
I recollect its greatness when I am downcast.
To the world Aryabhata, zero provided;
India's rank thus on the highest pedestal coincided.
Buddha preached non-violence and the path middle;
And showed to the world how,
The seeds of all sufferings in cravings did lie.
Mahavira embodied the essence
Of truth, non-violence and a life pure
That could ensure a passage to salvation secure.
II
The accounts of Megasthenes and Fa-hien
The testimony to the greatness of my country bear.
History had such a great king in Porus
That, though robbed of his crown, without fear,
Could proclaim his claim to Alexander his honour royal.
III
The ruins of universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila
To the world a message spread,
That India towered above all,
When spreading knowledge came to the fore.
IV
In Bharata you find how a brother’s love plays,
One that renounced his kingdom as clay.
Does the world have the likes of Bharata
Who withstood the ensnares of the regal pleasures,
And his brother's paduka on the throne (in his own place) did put,
And in this way earned a singular grace
V
Poesy through Kalidas's quill did flow,
Its richness everyone's mind does give a blow.
The exuberance of his poetic gift did glow,
And his works stand unsurpassed in poetic richness galore
VI
India did produce Patriots great,
That to the gallows went,
Laughing and chanting mother India's name,
So that mother India could the air of freedom breathe.
Such a person you should nowhere find,
As history does not have such a kind.
VII
Lakshmibai and Rana Pratap's names in the books of history glow,
For they did all that one to his motherland could do.
Forsaking the pleasure of the crown,
Their saga of sacrifice, the glamour of a regal life did drown.
VIII
Valour's minion Kunwar Singh in his eighties
Across the Ganges rode his horse,
And fearlessly killed his country's foes.
And parted with his arm when got a gun's shot,
Cut it and offered it to the mother Ganges.
Glory be to such a martyr that mother India celebrates. |
