The national song must be judged solely by its infulence on the spirit. Fro[unclear] this point of view Bande Mataram is incomparably superior to Jana-gana. Bande Mataram gives a trumpet call like the French national song – Allons, enfants de la patrie, whi[unclear] the French army still sings when marching to battle; it warms the blood and nerves th[unclear] heart to action, to stoic endurance, and to forgetfulness of all sectarian difference the call of the motherland. Jana-gana, on the other hand, sounds like a Sufi sermon, its slow long-drawn cadences and interminable lines; it induces philosophic calm and philosophic repose. It can never act as a trumpet -call to action.
