India, Jan. 23 -- Republic Day is upon us. But when we hear Jana Gana Mana play, we would do well to remember that there was a time when people questioned whether India would ever have its own national anthem. This doubt arose shortly after Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877. Hereupon it became increasingly common for public events to feature God Save the Queen. Since few Indians felt confident singing in English, compositions in regional languages emerged to help Indians better express their "affection" for the Crown. Perhaps the most well-known offering was the Poona Gayan Samaj's Devi Shri Victoria, which the Marathi press deprecated as "meaningless rigmarole". What made this composition especially unpopular was that it w...