Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate

Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate, Jaya he Karnataka Maate (lit. 'Victory to you Mother Karnataka, The Daughter of Mother India!') is a Kannada-language poem composed by Kuvempu. The poem was officially declared the state anthem of the Indian state of Karnataka in 2004.

The poem envisages a Karnataka that recognises its position in the comity of Indian states, believes in peaceful co-existence with her sisters, but at the same time maintains her self-respect and dignity from a position of confidence and strength rather than insecurity and fear.

Background
The poem was written by Kuvempu, and singer Mysore Ananthaswamy gave it a tune in the 1960s. Ananthaswamy also sang it in Kuvempu's presence in Maharaja's College, Mysore, and noted in his diary that the latter had approved the tune.

It was reported that the government of Karnataka proposed the poem to be made the anthem of Karnataka first in 2000. In December 2003, the state cabinet announced its decision again, to coincide with the birth centenary of Kuvempu. The government added that it would not be made mandatory for the schools to sing the anthem. The decision was finalized on 10 January 2004 when the government issued an order declaring it as state anthem (naadageethe). It directed that the song should be rendered daily before the commencement of classes in all schools and that it should also be sung at all events. It also added that those present at the time of rendering should stand up as a mark of respect to the State, and that school authorities and organisers of events had been informed that they could use a select portion of the song brought out in the annexure of the order. The anthem is a truncated version of the poem; 21 of the original 44 lines were excluded.

Styles
The poem is set to tune by a number of Kannada composers, among which two tunes set by C. Ashwath and Mysore Ananthaswamy are the most popular ones. Recently there were some confusions and differences in opinion as to which tune should be used in rendition. A committee led by poet G. S. Shivarudrappa was asked to suggest a befitting tune for the rendition of the anthem, had recommended that the music composed by Mysore Ananthaswamy was apt. Other poets and musicians were represented in the committee, and they had considered several tunes before arriving at the decision.

The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, has asked Kannada University to create a uniform rendering for the anthem.

Controversy
A controversy started immediately after the poem's adoption as the Karnataka State anthem in January 2004. The government had adopted the 1994 version of the poem, which was published in a Kannada-language encyclopedia, which excluded names of saint Madhwacharya and poet Kumara Vyasa, as opposed to the 1977 version which featured them. One group, led by writers K. S. Bhagawan, S. Shivarajappa and M. B. Vishwanath argued against the government's decision, and speculated that perhaps Kuvempu might have expressed his objection to the introduction of these names when the poem was published in 1977, and hence the names were dropped in the next edition. They felt that the version in Kuvempu's KoLalu was the original and authentic, and that this version be adopted. They also feared that featuring these two names would lead to a demand for inclusion of names of other important figures by their followers, such as Manteswami and Kanakadasa among others. This argument was supported by the seer of the Tambihalli Madhava Theertha Math, who termed it "plagiarism" and stated: "... the government is acting against the Constitution and is creating unnecessary caste problems, filling people's hearts with hatred."

However, another viewpoint was for the retention of the said names. Their argument was that the Kannada Sahitya Parishat had published this version of the poem when Kuvempu was alive, and had he any reservations regarding it, he would voiced it then. In the end, this version of the poem stayed, and Poornachandra Tejaswi, son of Kuvempu and holder of copyrights of Kuvempu's works, accepted the edited version.