Music Career - Patriotic Music

Tireless efforts to make 'Vande Mataram' the National Anthem

In 1934, Master Krishna joined 'Prabhat Film Company' in Pune as the music composer for the film Dharmatma'. With the consent of film director V. Shantaram, who was a partner of Prabhat company at the time, Master had begun creative explorations at Prabhat's music studio, to come up with a fitting tune for 'Vande Mataram', as a national song. He set it to popular raags like Bhoop, Pahadi, trying out these experiments with the singers and orchestra of Prabhat. He gave a lot of artistic and emotional thought to this song for several days, and finally set it in Raag Jhinjhoti, usually sung in Mandra and Madhya Saptaka (low and middle octaves), so that it can be easily sung by men and women of all ages and even small children as a group. Vande Mataram's record (sung and composed by Master Krishnarao) was first played as the national anthem of pre-independence India at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

As a concert and stage singer, Master often sang Natyasangeet from then popular stage plays, improvising, and adding new taans and other fresh nuance. Songs like Kareen Yadumani Sadana, Lalana Mana, film songs like Radhika Chatur Bole, Mann Papi Bhula would be rendered in the mehfil with great virtuosity as well as variations. He would also present devotional songs like Parabrahma Nishkam To Ha a little differently each time, adding embellishments to the original tune. However, when it came to Vande Mataram, he would sing it without taking any kind of artistic liberties, at the end of his concerts, to give it its due weightage as a potential national anthem. Even when India was not yet independent, he would perform Vande Mataram in front of the audiences from different regions and religions, singing each verse in full, for its true significance to be communicated to people.

In keeping with his patriotic beliefs, Master Krishnarao used to end his music concerts by singing Vande Mataram to the tune that he had composed. However, at that time, public singing of Vande Mataram had been banned by the British Government in India. During one of his recitals on the government-controlled radio, Master Krishna began to sing it, after the closing notes of a popular Natyasangeet or stage song. The Station Director Mr. Bukhari immediately disconnected the power supply. Following this incident, Master Krishna boycotted radio altogether, even though performing on Radio was the main means of livelihood for musicians and provided them with a good reach to audiences. The incident of cutting short Master Krishna’s performance was strongly condemned by all major newspapers in India. Later, when Indian independence was in sight, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel intervened, and Master Krishna was invited to sing Vande Mataram on the occasion of Gudi Padwa in 1947 on Akashvani. After this, he resumed his musical career on radio. Later, he was invited to be the official composer, singer and consultant of the newly started Pune Akashvani.

Master Krishna’s robust push to have his beloved Vande Mataram declared as the National Anthem, was truly commendable. What should be the national anthem of independent India? This question was not resolved even on the eve of Independence, and both Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram were sung on the night of 14 August 1947. In December 1947, the work of the Constitution Committee began. At that time, Master Krishna telegraphed the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi, urging him to “listen to my opinion as a musicologist on Vande Mataram”. Pt. Nehru responded immediately. He sent an invitation to Master to perform in Delhi. Master went to Delhi with recordings of two versions – one sung in male and female chorus and the other rendered by an instrumental orchestra. He presented these and also sang Vande Mataram himself, to an august assembly of listeners: Pt. Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Kakasaheb Gadgil, G.W. Mavalankar, J. B. Kripalani, C. Rajagopalachari, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, B.N. Rao, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Maulana Azad and other members of the Constituent Assembly. Pt. Nehru suggested that the tune should be one that could be easily played by orchestras in the United Nations and other countries when the need arose. In response, Master Krishna met C.R. Gardner, the head of the police band in Mumbai. They worked closely together to adapt the original composition in raag Mishra Jhinjhoti in such a way that it could be played by the band in western style, and made printed notations for musicians anywhere to be able to follow. Three separate recordings of this version of Vande Mataram were made, to be presented in Parliament. The conductor of the Naval Band, Mr.Stanley Hills, also had Master's composition played by the brass band in Western style.

Master paid for these recordings, as well as for printing the band notation, and the text of Vande Mataram as the proposed national anthem. With these materials and some accompanying musicians, Master returned to Delhi. Here they performed Vande Mataram in front of the Constitution Committee members in the then Parliament. They also presented the audio recordings of 1 minute 5 seconds as well as a 20 second version to be played during flag hoisting.

The tune of Vande Mataram composed by Master had, from the beginning, received strong support from many political leaders, activists, artists and common citizens. This move was publicly supported in speech and writing by the Master's Paratpar Guru Sangeetsamrat Ustad Alladiya Khansaheb; illustrious singer Ustad Faiyaz Khansaheb also gave his written support. (It is worth noting that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, a fan of the song himself, had given the first public recital of Vande Mataram in the year 1896. But unfortunately, he was not alive in 1947.) Support had also come from the well-to-do sections of society, for Master’s campaign to promote Vande Mataram as the national anthem. It is worth noting, that in spite of this, Master had asked no one for funds, and had undertaken all this hard work at his own considerable expense, as it was for his country. He had poured his formidable musical skill, training and intellect into the process. However, while so many of his musical efforts, experiments and innovations had borne fruit, Vande Mataram was rejected as the national anthem of independent India by the rulers of the time. It was Jan Gana Mana that was declared as the national anthem. Perhaps the rulers wanted to avoid any controversy over this in our newly-formed nation.

Nevertheless, Master’s commitment and hard work did not go to waste, as President Dr. Rajendra Prasad announced that Vande Mataram will be recognized as the national song (Rashtriy geet) and will be accorded the same honour as the national anthem

Although Master Krishna was, naturally, disappointed, he continued to promote Vande Mataram throughout his life. He sang and taught Vande Mataram to the students of many schools and institutions. An audio recording of his Vande Mataram was regularly played in schools and colleges in Maharashtra for many years (till 1970). Also, various political, social and personal organizations used to invite him to perform the full version at special events.

Master Krishnarao's name will always stand among those few artists who offered their art for the national interest and showed self-respect and national pride for art. Glorifying this brilliant work, P. L. Deshpande said in his speech, "Seeing the hard work done by Master Krishnarao for making Vande Mataram as the national anthem, we should praise his work and efforts by saying 'Vande Mastaram' in his honour!"

Other Patriotic Compositions

Master Krishnarao also composed and sang other patriotic songs in Hindi, like 'Amar Hain Hindusthan', Hoshiyar Rahana','Sabko Apanahi Dharma Pyaara'. He wrote and published a book of these songs called 'Rashtra Sangeet', with the lyrics and the notation, for people to access. Newspaper clippings of the time tell us that he sang songs from this book on several occasions, for many national leaders.