Jana-Gana-Mana, National Anthem of India

This is the national anthem of India, and it comes from genuine literary royalty: the words and music were written by Rabindranath Tagore, India's first Nobel Prize winner, back in 1911. What we sing today is actually just the first stanza of a longer poem Tagore wrote called “Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata.” The melody is rooted in a classical Indian raga rather than a Western scale, which gives it a distinctive character even in a simplified beginner arrangement. It officially became India's anthem in 1950, the same year the country's constitution was signed.