Saare Jahan Se Achcha

Saare Jahan Se Achcha is one of the enduring patriotic poems of the Urdu language. Written and recited by poet Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Government College, Lahore, now in Pakistan, in 1905, it quickly became an anthem of opposition to the British rule in India. The song, an ode to Hindustan—the land comprising present-day Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan—both celebrates and cherishes the land even as it laments its age-old anguish. Also known as Tarana-e-Hindi ("Anthem of the People of Hindustan"), it was composed in the Urdu language book Bang-i-Dara, in the ghazal style, a form of Urdu poetry.

sāre jahān se acchā hindostān hamārā
ham bulbulain hai is ki, yeh gulsitān hamārā

ghurbat men hon agar ham, rahta hai dil vatan men
samjho vahīn hamen bhī, dil hain jahān hamārā

parbat voh sab se ūnchā, hamsāya āsmān ka
voh santari hamārā, voh pāsbān hamārā

godi men kheltī hain is ki hazāron nadiyā
gulshan hai jin ke dam se, rashk-e-janān hamārā

aye āb, raud, ganga, voh din hen yād tujhko
utarā tere kināre, jab kārvān hamārā

maz'hab nahīn sikhātā āpas men bayr rakhnā
hindi hai ham, vatan hai hindostān hamārā

yūnān-o-misr-o-romā, sab miṭ gaye jahān se
ab tak magar hai bāqi, nām-o-nishān hamārā

kuch bāt hai keh hastī, miṭati nahīn hamārī
sadiyon rahā hai dushman, daur-e-zamān hamārā

iqbal ko'ī meharam, apnā nahīn jahān men
m'alūm kya kisī ko, dard-e-nihān hamārā

Translation

Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan;
we are its nightingales of mirth, and it is our garden abode

Though in foreign lands we may reside, with our homeland our hearts abide,
Regard us also to be there, where exist our hearts

That mountain most high, neighbor to the skies;
it is our sentinel; it is our protector

In the lap of whose, play thousands of rivers;
gardens they sustain; the envy-of-the-heavens of ours

O waters of the Ganga mighty, do you recall the day
when on your banks, did land the caravan of ours

Religion does not teach us to harbour grudges between us
Indians we all are; India, our motherland

While Greece, Egypt , Rome have all been wiped out
till now yet remains, this civilization of ours {it has stood the test of time}

Something there is that keeps us,our entity from being eroded
For ages has been our enemy, the way of the world

Iqbal! Is there no soul that could
understand the pain in thy heart?