Saare Jahan Se Achcha
سارے جہاں سے اچھا
Saare Jahan Se Achcha, "better than all the world", is the Urdu poem Tarana-e-Hindi written by Muhammad Iqbal in 1904. Its opening couplet became one of the best-loved patriotic songs of India, sung at schools, ceremonies and by military bands.
- Written by
- Muhammad Iqbal (died 1938)
- In the video
- Asha Bhosle
- Context
- Tarana-e-Hindi, ghazal by Muhammad Iqbal, collected in Bang-e-Dra (1924)
- Year
- 1904
- Language
- Urdu
Saare Jahan Se Achcha lyrics with English translation
Full nine-couplet poem as given on Urdu Wikisource. Sung versions usually use a selection of couplets. The linked recording is sung by Asha Bhosle, who also sang the song for the Hindi film Bhai-Bahen; this page carries only Iqbal's poem.
سارے جہاں سے اچھا ہندوستاں ہمارا ہم بلبلیں ہیں اس کی، یہ گلستاں ہمارا
Saare jahaan se achchha Hindostaan hamaara Ham bulbulen hain is ki, yeh gulsitaan hamaara
Better than all the world is our Hindustan; we are its nightingales, and it is our garden.
غربت میں ہوں اگر ہم، رہتا ہے دل وطن میں سمجھو وہیں ہمیں بھی دل ہو جہاں ہمارا
Ghurbat mein hon agar ham, rehta hai dil watan mein Samjho wahin hamen bhi dil ho jahaan hamaara
If we are in a foreign land, our heart stays in the homeland; know that we, too, are where our heart is.
پربت وہ سب سے اونچا، ہمسایہ آسماں کا وہ سنتری ہمارا، وہ پاسباں ہمارا
Parbat woh sab se ooncha, hamsaaya aasmaan ka Woh santari hamaara, woh paasbaan hamaara
That mountain, highest of all, neighbour to the sky, is our sentry, is our guardian.
گودی میں کھیلتی ہیں اس کی ہزاروں ندیاں گلشن ہے جن کے دم سے رشکِ جناں ہمارا
Godi mein khelti hain is ki hazaaron nadiyaan Gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e-jinaan hamaara
In its lap play thousands of rivers, whose life makes our garden the envy of paradise.
اے آبِ رودِ گنگا! وہ دن ہیں یاد تجھ کو؟ اترا ترے کنارے جب کارواں ہمارا
Ae aab-e-rood-e-Ganga! woh din hain yaad tujh ko? Utra tere kinaare jab kaarvaan hamaara
O waters of the river Ganga, do you remember those days when our caravan came down to your banks?
مذہب نہیں سکھاتا آپس میں بیر رکھنا ہندی ہیں ہم، وطن ہے ہندوستاں ہمارا
Mazhab nahin sikhaata aapas mein bair rakhna Hindi hain ham, watan hai Hindostaan hamaara
Religion does not teach us to bear ill will among ourselves; we are of Hind, and our homeland is Hindustan.
یونان و مصر و روما سب مٹ گئے جہاں سے اب تک مگر ہے باقی نام و نشاں ہمارا
Yoonaan-o-Misr-o-Roma sab mit gaye jahaan se Ab tak magar hai baaqi naam-o-nishaan hamaara
Greece, Egypt and Rome have all vanished from the world, yet our name and our mark remain to this day.
کچھ بات ہے کہ ہستی مٹتی نہیں ہماری صدیوں رہا ہے دشمن دورِ زماں ہمارا
Kuchh baat hai ke hasti mitti nahin hamaari Sadiyon raha hai dushman daur-e-zamaan hamaara
There is something that keeps our existence from fading, though for centuries the turning of the ages has been our enemy.
اقبال! کوئی محرم اپنا نہيں جہاں میں معلوم کیا کسی کو دردِ نہاں ہمارا!
Iqbal! koi mahram apna nahin jahaan mein Maaloom kya kisi ko dard-e-nihaan hamaara!
Iqbal, we have no confidant in all the world; what does anyone know of our hidden pain?
Translation: Lyriccs (original translation). Transliteration: Lyriccs.
The story behind Saare Jahan Se Achcha
Muhammad Iqbal wrote the poem as a young lecturer in Lahore. It was published in the weekly journal Ittehad on 16 August 1904, and Iqbal recited it publicly the following year at Government College, Lahore. The poem was later included in his first Urdu collection, Bang-e-Dra, in 1924.
The poem is a ghazal of nine couplets that celebrates Hindustan through its mountains, rivers and long history. Its line mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna, religion does not teach us to bear ill will towards one another, made it a song of unity during the freedom movement. Iqbal's later poetry moved in a different political direction, but this early poem stayed in Indian popular memory.
The tune most often heard today is credited to the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. The song appeared in Hindi films and countless recordings, and the Indian armed forces use it as a quick march. In 1984 the cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, asked by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from space, answered with its first line.
What Saare Jahan Se Achcha means
The poem speaks with the voice of a people in love with their land. India is a garden and its people are nightingales; even far from home, the heart stays there. The Himalaya stands as a sentry neighbouring the sky, and thousands of rivers make the garden the envy of paradise. The Ganga is addressed directly, as a witness to the day the poet's people first arrived on its banks.
The central couplets give the poem its lasting force: faith does not teach enmity, and all who live in Hind belong to it. The poet notes that Greece, Egypt and Rome have passed away while this civilisation endures, though the ages have long been hostile to it. The last couplet turns inward: Iqbal says no one in the world truly shares or understands the hidden pain of his people, a note of sorrow under the pride.
Quick facts
- The poem was first published in the weekly Ittehad on 16 August 1904.
- Its formal title is Tarana-e-Hindi, Anthem of the People of Hindustan.
- It was collected in Iqbal's Urdu book Bang-e-Dra in 1924.
- The popular tune is credited to Ravi Shankar.
- Rakesh Sharma quoted its first line from space in 1984.