Explained: Gandhi’s favourite hymn ‘Abide with me’ dropped from Beating Retreat tunes
Penned in the pre-modern world by Henry Francis Lyte, a Scottish Anglican minister and son of a naval captain, the hymn that was a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi is often sung to English composer William Henry Monk’s evocative tune Eventide.
Hyderabad: A day after the eternal flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti was shifted to the National War Memorial, the government has chosen to omit the traditional Christian hymn ‘Abide With Me’ for the first time since 1950 in this year’s Beating the Retreat ceremony.
Penned in the pre-modern world by Henry Francis Lyte, a Scottish Anglican minister and son of a naval captain, the hymn that was a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi is often sung to English composer William Henry Monk’s evocative tune Eventide.
Lyte wrote it after visiting a friend, who in his last moments continually uttered “abide with me”, a request to ease his pain. But he kept the piece to himself until his own death in 1847. The first time the hymn was sung was at Lyte’s own funeral.
It was played at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and also by musicians as the Titanic went down.
Abide With Me is one of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal favourites. He first heard the piece played by Mysore Palace Band, and could not forget its serenity.
At Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, the ashram bhajanavali with the bhajans ‘Vaishnav Jan Toh’ and Ram Dhun by Tulsidas, ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ in it, Abide With Me, along with Lead Kindly Light, was put together under Gandhi’s watch.
It is the last piece to be performed every year on the evening of January 29 at Vijay Chowk in the national capital marking the end of the Republic Day celebrations. It is also the last piece before the retreat buglers bring down the Indian flag.
The Centre had in 2020 also planned to drop “Abide With Me” from the ceremony but had later retained it after an uproar.
It wanted to include a maximum number of Indian tunes and consequently, it was decided that only Indian-origin tunes will be played at this year’s ceremony.
For this year’s ceremony, the hymn has been replaced by the popular patriotic song “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon”, which was written by Kavi Pradeep in the wake of the Sino-Indian War, and went on to become a tableau of Indian nationalism.
Beating Retreat is a centuries-old military tradition going back to the days when troops disengaged from the battle at sunset. As soon as the buglers sounded the ‘retreat’, troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms, and withdrew from the battlefield.
A slew of changes have happened in the playlist of the Beating Retreat ceremony in the last few years. In 2016, a version of A R Rahman’s Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai, Maa Tujhe Salaam, and Dil Diya Hai Jaan Bhi Denge were experimented with.
The Congress and other opposition parties attacked the Centre alleging that dropping Abide With Me was merely another attempt to erase Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. However, some have welcomed the move as the iconic tune and lyrics for ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ have a far wider connection with the people of India.
The 26 tunes that will be played at this year’s ceremony include ‘Hey Kanchha’, ‘Channa Bilauri’, ‘Jai Janam Bhumi’, ‘Nritya Sarita’, ‘Vijay Josh’, ‘Kesaria Banna’, ‘Veer Siachen’, ‘Hathroi’, ‘Vijay Ghosh’, ‘Ladaakoo’, ‘Swadeshi’, ‘Amar Chattan’, ‘Golden Arrows’ and ‘Swarn Jayanti.’
‘Veer Sainik’, ‘Fanfare by Buglers, ‘INS India’, ‘Yashasvee’, ‘Jai Bharati’, ‘Kerala’, ‘Siki A Mole’, ‘Hind Ki Sena’, ‘Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja’, ‘Drummers Call’ besides ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ are also part of the tunes that will be played on the evening of January 29.
The ceremony will see the participation of 44 buglers, 16 trumpeters, and 75 drummers.
