National Anthem Comparison
Bhutan vs Nepal
0
Shared themes
✗
Different moods
54
54 years apart
✓
Same continent
Comparison Analysis
Bhutan and Nepal, both Asia nations, take distinct approaches to their national anthems. Bhutan's "The Thunder Dragon Kingdom" was written in 1953, while Nepal's "Hundreds of Flowers" dates to 2007.
The two anthems take different thematic approaches. Bhutan's focuses on monarchy, god / faith and prosperity, while Nepal's centers on nature, diversity, unity, independence and ancestors / heritage.
The emotional tones differ: Bhutan's anthem is prayerful, while Nepal's is proud.
Bhutan's anthem predates Nepal's by 54 years, having been written in 1953 compared to 2007.
Nepal changed its national anthem in 2007, reflecting a shift in the nation's identity or political landscape.
Shared themes
Bhutan
👑 Monarchy ✝ God / Faith 🌾 Prosperity
Nepal
🌿 Nature 🌈 Diversity 🤝 Unity 🗽 Independence 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage
Metadata
| Bhutan | Nepal | |
|---|---|---|
| Written | 1953 | 2007 |
| Adopted | 1966 | 2007 |
| Lyricist | Gyaldun Dasho Thinley Dorji | Pradip Kumar Rai (Byakul Maila) |
| Composer | Aku Tongmi | Amber Gurung |
| Language | dz | ne |
| Region | South Asia | South Asia |
Lyrics Side by Side
Bhutan
འབྲུག་ཙན་དན
Original
འབྲུག་ཙན་དན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་༎
དཔལ་ལུགས་གཉིས་བསྟན་སྲིད་𝄆སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན་𝄇༎
འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་༎
སྐུ་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟན་ཅིང་𝄆ཆབ་སྲིད་འཕེལ་𝄇༎
ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས་༎
འབངས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་𝄆ཤར་བར་ཤོག་𝄇༎
Translation
In the Thunder Dragon Kingdom, adorned with cypress trees,
The protector who upholds the glorious twofold rule of religion and state,
The King of Bhutan, the precious sovereign,
May he abide unchanging and steadfast, and his reign prosper,
May the Dharma, the Buddha's teaching, spread and flourish,
May the sun of peace and happiness rise over the people!
Nepal
सयौं थुँगा फूलका हामी
Original
सयौ थुँगा फूलका हामी एउटै माला नेपाली
सार्वभौम भई फैलिएका मेची-महाकाली।
प्रकृतिका कोटीकोटी सम्पदाको आँचल
वीरहरूका रगतले स्वतन्त्र र अटल
ज्ञानभूमि शान्तिभूमि तराई पहाड हिमाल
अखण्ड यो प्यारो हाम्रो मातृभूमि नेपाल
बहुल जाति भाषा धर्म संस्कृति छन् विशाल
अग्रगामी राष्ट्र हाम्रो जय जय नेपाल।
Translation
Woven from hundreds of flowers, we are one garland: Nepali,
Sovereignly extended, from Mechi to Mahakali.
The shawl of nature's countless treasures,
Made free and immovable by the blood of the brave.
Land of knowledge, land of peace: Terai, hills, and Himalaya,
Indivisible, this beloved land of ours, our motherland Nepal.
Many peoples, languages, faiths, and cultures, vast in their diversity
A progressive nation we are. Victory, victory to Nepal!
Interesting facts
Bhutan
- 1. The third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, called for a national anthem in 1953. The music is by Aku Tongmi, Bhutan's first bandmaster; sources date his melody either to 1953 or to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's visit to Bhutan in 1958.
- 2. The words are in Dzongkha, Bhutan's national language, which uses a Tibetan-derived script. The first version of the lyrics was later shortened and revised by Shingkhar Lam, a secretary to the king, and an assistant, Sangay Dorji.
- 3. The anthem refers to the 'dual system' (chhoe-sid-nyi) of religious and secular authority, which the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal introduced in Bhutan in the 17th century; the term still appears in Article 2 of the 2008 Constitution.
- 4. The melody comes from 'The Unchanging Lotus Throne', a zhungdra, one of Bhutan's traditional song genres, and was later revised twice by the Indian Army bandmasters Bajan Singh and H. Joseph.
Nepal
- 1. When it was first played on 3 August 2007, Nepal had gone nearly 14 months without a national anthem: after the 2006 people's movement the government had stopped playing the old one and chosen a new one through an open competition.
- 2. Byakul Maila's lyrics were judged the best of 1,272 entries. For the music, the government listened to six tunes, three by Amber Gurung, two from the Nepali Army and one by a young composer, and chose Gurung's second.
- 3. During the selection Byakul Maila had to prove he was not a royalist: officials and journalists combed through his background because he had once edited a book of poetry that included a contribution from the former king.
- 4. In August 2016 the BBC placed it third in its list 'Rio 2016: The most amazing national anthems', saying that rather than a military march or a church hymn, it sounds like 'a joyous Nepali pop song'.
Listen
Bhutan
Nepal
