Jai Hind is a salutation and slogan that originally meant "Victory to India", and in contemporary colloquial usage usually means "Long live India" or "Salute to India". Coined and used during India's freedom movement from the British Raj, it emerged as a form of battle cry particularly among Indian National Army personnel and in political speeches.
Etymology and nomenclature
The word "jai" is derived from jaya, which means "triumph, victory, cheers, bravo, rejoice". The word jaya appears in Vedic literature such as in Atharvaveda 8.50.8 and in post-Vedic literature such as the Mahabharata.
History
There is a misconception that Subhas Chandra Bose coined the slogan 'Jai Hind' but Narendra Luther, a former civil servant in his book "Legendotes of Hyderabad" based on documentary evidences, interviews and research credited it to Zain -ul Abideen Hasan. He was son of a Collector from Hyderabad, who went to Germany to study engineering. Later Zain-ul-Abideen became major in INA and participated in India campaigns. "Netaji" Subhas Chandra Bose wanted an Indian style salute in his army and various suggestions came from. Zain-Ul-Abideen came up with 'Jai Hind' and Netaji Bose gladly accepted it. According to grand-nephew Sumantra Bose, a historian, the phrase is devoid of any religious tone. The term became popular as a slogan and greeting of the Indian National Army organized by Subash Chandra Bose and his colleagues, particularly between 1943–45. After India's independence, it emerged as a national slogan, and has been a common form of greeting the people of India by its political leaders and prime ministers such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao, and others. Indira Gandhi would end her political speeches with triple shouts of "Jai Hind". Since the mid-1990s, came to be used as a greeting among the Indian Army personnel.
A follower of Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose, Ramchandra Moreshwar Karkare, of Gwalher Madhya Bharat, wrote a patriotic drama Jai Hind in March 1947 and published a book in Hindi, with the same title. Later, Karkare became Congress president of Central India Province. The Jai Hind postmark was the first commemorative postmark of Independent India. The first stamps of Independent India were issued on November 21, 1947 with Jai Hind inscribed on them, in 1.5 anna, 3.5 anna and 12 anna denominations. Along with Jai Hind, they carried images of Ashoka capital, national flag and an aircraft respectively. "जय हिन्द" is also stated on the first, Independence series of Indian stamps. The phrase is used on All India Radio at the end of a broadcast. It occurs in the patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" sung by Lata Mangeshkar in 1963. Mahatma Gandhi sent a piece of crocheted, cotton lace made from yarn personally spun by himself, with the central motif Jai Hind, to British Royal couple Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as a wedding gift in 1947. The phrase appeared in the early years of Air India slogans, with a 1965 Lok Sabha debate mentioning it being a part of the tagline of the government-owned national airline as "One Nation, One Leader, One India, Jai Hind".
