Chitra Subramaniam | The News Minute | August 15, 2014 | 02:10 pm ISTBangalore: Not many people noticed or may not know that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inspecting the guard of honour at the Red Fort this morning, he was marching to the National Anthem of the erstwhile state of Mysore which also celebrated freedom.The year was 1881, when the princely state of Mysore was returned back to Maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar by the British who had snatched it from him in 1831. To commemorate the occasion, the Maharaja asked Basavappa Shastry, court poet of the Mysore durbar to compose a state anthem. The result was “Kayo Sri Gowri…” an invocation to goddess Gowri or Chamundeswari, the reigning deity of the royal family of Mysore. It was set to music by the Maharaja’s Band Master Mr. Bartels and Vainika Shikhamani Seshanna. The prayer is set in Raag Dheerashankarabharanam (Carnatic) and Bilawal (Hindustani). The western chords are in C major (Ionian scale).The song gained immense popularity and for a while was sung by school children across the state as their morning prayer. The story doesn’t stop there. A favourite of the Maharaja, the anthem was played when Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore visited Bangalore in 1919 to deliver his speech on the “Message of the Forests.” He had come to the city at the invitation of Sir Albion Bannerjee who was first counsellor under Diwan Sir. M. Kantharaj Urs. Legend has it that Tagore’s “Anondo Loke…” which is a very popular number was heavily inspired by “Kayo Sri Gowri…” Here is the Mysore National Anthem of the erstwhile state of Mysore…and here is Anondo LokeBoth invoke the spirit of freedom and the band that played this morning as Modi slow-marched rose beautifully to the occasion.