UPSC Prelims 2021 Q36: Madanapalle and the National Movement — Explained
With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct?
- Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour Indian National Flag here.
- Pattabhi Sitaramaiah led the Quit India Movement of Andhra region from here.
- Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.
- Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott set up headquarters of Theosophical Society first here.
Answer: (c) Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.
Statement-wise explanation
- a: incorrect — Pingali Venkayya showed his flag design to Gandhi at the All India Congress Committee meeting at Bezwada (now Vijayawada) in 1921. He did not design it at Madanapalle. On Gandhi's advice a white band was added. The Constituent Assembly adopted the present tricolour, with the Ashoka Chakra, on 22 July 1947.
- b: incorrect — Pattabhi Sitaramayya worked from Machilipatnam in coastal Andhra, where he founded Andhra Bank in 1923. When the Quit India Resolution passed in August 1942, he was arrested with the rest of the Congress Working Committee. He spent the rest of the movement in Ahmednagar Fort, so he could not have led it from Madanapalle or anywhere else.
- c: correct — In February 1919 Tagore stayed at the Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, as a guest of its principal, James H. Cousins. There he wrote the English version of his Bengali song 'Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata' and called it 'The Morning Song of India'. Margaret Cousins wrote down its music in staff notation. The college still keeps this version, and its first stanza became 'Jana Gana Mana', adopted as the National Anthem on 24 January 1950.
- d: incorrect — Blavatsky and Olcott founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875. They came to India in 1879 and first worked from Bombay. In 1882 they set up the international headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai), where it still is. Madanapalle's Theosophical link came later, through the college that Annie Besant's movement founded there.
How to eliminate
You can rule out two options with basic knowledge. The Theosophical Society is tied to Adyar, Madras, after it began in New York and Bombay, so the headquarters statement is false. Pattabhi Sitaramayya is linked to Machilipatnam and Andhra Bank, and all Congress Working Committee members were jailed on 9 August 1942, so none of them led Quit India in any region. That leaves Venkayya and Tagore. Venkayya's flag is linked to the 1921 Bezwada (Vijayawada) Congress meeting, not Madanapalle. If you only half-remember this, the Theosophical clue still helps: Madanapalle had a Theosophical college, and Tagore's 1919 visit to that college is the anthem link. In the end this question tests one fact: Tagore wrote the English 'Morning Song of India' at Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, in February 1919. Pair the right place with each Andhra figure: Venkayya with Vijayawada, Sitaramayya with Machilipatnam, Theosophists with Adyar, Tagore with Madanapalle.
Know more
Madanapalle and the National Anthem
Tagore wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata, a five-stanza Bengali hymn, in December 1911. It was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on 27 December 1911. Outside Bengal, few people knew it.
In February 1919 Tagore stayed at the Besant Theosophical College in Madanapalle, then in Chittoor district. The college's principal was the Irish poet James H. Cousins. Tagore sang the song to the students and, at Cousins's request, wrote an English version, 'The Morning Song of India'. Margaret Cousins, a music teacher and later a women's-rights campaigner, wrote down the tune in Western notation. The college adopted the song as its morning prayer.
On 24 January 1950 the Constituent Assembly adopted the first stanza, in its Hindi version, as the National Anthem. The same day, Vande Mataram was given equal honour as the National Song.
| Place | Linked with |
|---|---|
| Madanapalle | Tagore's English translation of the anthem (1919); birthplace of J. Krishnamurti (1895) |
| Bezwada (Vijayawada) | Pingali Venkayya presents flag design to Gandhi (1921) |
| Machilipatnam | Pattabhi Sitaramayya; Andhra Bank founded (1923) |
| Adyar, Madras | Theosophical Society headquarters (from 1882) |
| New York | Theosophical Society founded (1875) |
| Ahmednagar Fort | Congress Working Committee jailed (1942–45) |
Pattern to note: UPSC likes to ask which event happened at a small town and offers four real people from the same region. Learn each figure with their place, not just their deed.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- National anthem and national song adoption: Explains when and how the Constituent Assembly adopted Jana Gana Mana, the song whose English version is tied to Madanapalle.
- Quit India movement: The Pattabhi Sitaramayya statement depends on what happened to Congress leaders when the Quit India movement began in August 1942.