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The lyrics of the song 'Saare Jahan Se Achha' were written by:
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Answer: Option A — Muhammad Iqbal
Detailed Solution
"Saare Jahan Se Achha" ("Better than the entire world") is an Urdu patriotic poem written by the poet Muhammad Iqbal (Allama Iqbal) in 1904. It was first published in the weekly journal "Ittehad" on 16 August 1904, under the title "Tarana-e-Hindoostan" (Anthem of Hindustan). At that time Iqbal was a lecturer at the Government College, Lahore.
The poem praises India (Hindustan) with lines such as "Saare jahan se achha, Hindostan hamara; Hum bulbulein hain iski, yeh gulsitan hamara" ("We are its nightingales, and it is our garden"). It also includes the well-known line "Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna" ("Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves").
The popular tune of the song was composed by the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar in 1945. The song is played by the Indian armed forces as a marching song and at the Beating Retreat ceremony.
In 1984, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked India's first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, how India looked from space, he replied "Saare Jahan Se Achha".
Iqbal later changed his political views and became one of the key thinkers behind the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims. In his presidential address to the Muslim League session at Allahabad in 1930, he proposed a separate Muslim state in north-western India. He is regarded as the national poet of Pakistan. His other works include "Bang-e-Dra", in which this poem was later included, and "Tarana-e-Milli".
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote "Vande Mataram".
- ✗Rabindranath Tagore wrote "Jana Gana Mana".
- ✗Ram Prasad Bismil is linked with "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna", written by Bismil Azimabadi.
Quick tip
Remember: "Saare Jahan Se Achha" = Muhammad Iqbal, 1904 (Tarana-e-Hind, Ittehad journal), tune by Ravi Shankar; quoted by Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
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Music & Musical Instruments — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Music & Musical Instruments, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers Indian classical music, its two main traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic), gharanas, ragas and talas, folk music styles, and the musical instruments of India along with the artists who are famous for playing them. It also includes the four classes of instruments: string (tata), wind (sushira), percussion (avanaddha) and solid (ghana). Exam questions usually pair an instrument with its maestro, such as the sitar with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the shehnai with Ustad Bismillah Khan or the santoor with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Other common questions ask about the origin of a gharana, the instrument a folk style uses, or the class an instrument belongs to. Making a two-column list of instruments and artists is the quickest way to revise. Practise the music and musical instruments questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.