What motivated Tagore to compose the Indian National Anthem?

On India's national anthem.

Most national anthems try to sow FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) as the French anthem does, extoll glory of war and condemn traitors who kept people in chains (in the south) as US anthem does, or an appeal to God to save the sovereign as the British anthem does. Here is Exhibit A:

France:

"Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!"

USA:

"O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;"

When the American Civil War started, in indignation the noted jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. added a stanza that included:

"Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave."

UK:

"God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen
God save The Queen!
Send her victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over us
God save The Queen!"

The Indian anthem is definitely of the third kind, I suppose a vestige of British imperialism. However, more interesting question is what motivated Tagore to use the British model. Apparently it was not the British anthem, but the anthem of one of the Indian sates, in fact the state from which I come: Mysore. It should not be surprising. The objective of this post is to describe how Tagore was motivated by the Mysore anthem to compose the Indian national anthem.

About Mysore

Mysore is a state that has been peaceful through most of its history. It has neither fought to gain territory nor has it fought to keep others out of its territory. In all it has fought four wars in all. ALL of them against the British which desperately tried to colonise it. All four were fought during the rather unsavoury period in its history when it was ruled by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. While they were trying to protect their realm against the British intruders, their reign was quite unlike the rest of Mysore history in that they tried to colonise parts of southern India that no other dynasty of Mysore did.

Ultimately, in 1799, in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war the British killed Tipu. The Nizam and the Marathas had connived with the British in this. Then the British had the Kingdom of Mysore on its hands, but probably did not know what to do with it. (Like Jinnah who fought like hell to get his Pakistan, and when he got it did not know what to do with it. Soon after he died.) But the Britannica had wider ambitions, and being a nation of shopkeepers and traders wanted to control but not bother with one more state to handle. So, after the Nizam and the Marathas had got their booty, the British gave what was left of the state to the King of Mysore, but kept a "resident" just to make sure they had a toehold in the kingdom. In 1831 the British got the opportunity to do their mischief. Claiming misrule, they deposed Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar and brought the Kingdom directly under the rule of the East India Company. 

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed in Britain and the Privy Council there ordered the East India Company to reverse the annexation of Mysore. Under the rendition of 1881, the state of Mysore was given back to the Wodeyar dynasty. So, Mysore history has four periods: The Wodeyar period, the Islamic period, the British period, and finally basic to the Wodeyars.

On the Mysore Anthem and Tagore

The Mysore anthem (Kayo Sri Gowri) was commissioned by  Maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar to commemorate the rendition of 1881. In 1919, the Vice Chancelloe of Mysore University, a Bristol born alumnus of Balliol College (Oxford) and son of Brahmo parents who were social reformers, Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerjee, invited Tagore to visit Mysore. It was then that Tagore heard the Kayo Sri Gowri for the first time. As the article cited below says, "Tagore was impressed. He had already heard of the anthem several years before and realised that the lyrics are based on Raga- Dheerashankarābharanam. This raga is known as Bilawal in the Hindustani  and the Western equivalent is the C major scale, Ionian mode." Then Tagore went on the compose the Indian National anthem "Jana gana Mana".

Reference:

http://samharshbangalore.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-anthem-that-inspired-jana-gana-mana.html