Bal Gangadhar Tilak by Vivek Chavan

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak, was an Indian nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and an independence activist. He was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement.

1. INTRODUCTION Bal Gangadhar Tilak (29th Couplet) Described by British as "The Father of Indian Unrest " Tilak was born on   23.07.1856 . His slogan, " Swaraj (Self Rule) is my birthright ", inspired millions of Indians. His book " Geetarahasya"a classic treatise on Geeta in Marathi was written by him, in prison at Mandalay.Great journalist- editor, an authority on Vedas, Sanskrit Scholar, mathematician and a natural leader of India. Died 01.08.1920 " Swaraj is our birthright ," thundered Tilak , the Lion of India.He founded schools andpublished newspapers, all for his motherland. He rotted in a distant jail at Manda lay, in Burma. he wore himself out till his last breath, to awaken his countrymen.

2. When Tilak was ten his father was transferred to Pune from Ratnagiri . This brought sea change in Tilak’s life. He joined the Anglo-Vernacular School in Pune and got education from some of the well known teachers. Soon after coming to Pune Tilak lost his mother and by the time he was sixteen he lost his father too. While Tilak was studying in Matriculation he was married to a 10-year-old girl called Satyabhama . After passing the Matriculation Examination Tilak joined the Deccan College. In 1877, Bal Gangadhar Tilak got his B.A. degree with a first class in mathematics. He continued his studies and got the LL.B. degree too.

3. HIS LIFE STYLE

4. He led a simple life, and offered himself, body and soul, to the service of his country. Tilak had no property. His clothes were very simple. A dhoti, a shirt, a shawl on the shoulder and a red ' Pagadi ' (a marathi cap) on his head. In many ways he was the architect of India’s Freedom Struggle. His ideas and efforts were carried on by equally worthy next generation of leaders Gandhiji , Patel, Nehru and others.

5. ACHIEVEMENTS DONE BY BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

6. Achievements:   Considered as Father of Indian National Movement; Founded “Deccan Education Society” to impart quality education to India's youth; was a member of the Municipal Council of Pune, Bombay Legislature, and an elected 'Fellow' of the Bombay University; formed Home Rule League in 1916 to attain the goal of Swaraj .  Bal Gangadhar Tilak is considered as Father of Indian National Movement. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a multifaceted personality. He was a social reformer, freedom fighter, national leader, and a scholar of Indian history, sanskrit , hinduism , mathematics and astronomy. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was popularly called as Lokmanya (Beloved of the people). During freedom struggle, his slogan “ Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it” inspired millions of Indians. 

7. After graduation, Tilak began teaching mathematics in a private school in Pune and later became a journalist. He became a strong critic of the Western education system, feeling it demeaning to Indian students and disrespectful to India's heritage. He came to the conclusion that good citizens can be moulded only through good education. He believed that every Indian had to be taught about Indian culture and national ideals. Along with his classmate Agarkar and great social reformer Vishnushastry Chiplunkar , Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded “Deccan Education Society” to impart quality education to India's youth

8. The very next year after the Deccan Education Society was founded, Tilak started two weeklies, ' Kesari ' and ' Mahratta '. ' Kesari ' was Marathi weekly while ' Mahratta ' was English weekly. Soon both the newspapers became very popular. In his newspapers, Tilak highlighted the plight of Indians. He gave a vivid picture of the people's sufferings and of actual happenings. Tilak called upon every Indian to fight for his right. Bal Gangadhar Tilak used fiery language to arouse the sleeping Indians.

9. In 1894, Tilak transformed household worshipping of Ganesha into sarvajanik ganeshotsav and he also made Shiva Jayaunti (birth anniversary celebrations of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ) as a social festival. It is touted to be an effective demonstration of festival procession .

10. Political Career

11. Tilak '' joined the Indian National Congress in 1890. He opposed its moderate attitude, especially towards the fight for self government. He was one of the most eminent radicals at the time. In 1891 Tilak opposed the Age of Consent bill . The act raised the age at which a girl could get married from 10 to 12. The Congress and other liberals supported it, but lokmanya Tilak was set against it, terming it an interference with Hinduism. A plague epidemic spread from Mumbai to Pune in late 1896, and by January 1897, it reached epidemic proportions. In order to suppress the epidemic and prevent its spread, it was decided to take drastic action, accordingly a Special Plague Committee, with jurisdiction over Pune city, its suburbs and Pune cantonment was appointed under the Chairmanship of W. C. Rand, I. C. S, Assistant Collector of Pune by way of a government order dated 8 March 1897.Tilak took up the people's cause by publishing inflammatory articles in his paper Kesari , quoting the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita to say that no blame could be attached to anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward. Following this, on 22 June, Rand and another British officer Lt. Ayerst were shot and killed by the Chapekar brothers and their other associates. Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.

12. HIS Arrest

13. On 30 April 1908 two Bengali youths, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage at Muzzafarpur in order to kill the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford of Calcutta fame, but erroneously killed some women travelling in it. While Chaki committed suicide when caught, Bose was tried and hanged. Tilak in his paper Kesari defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or Self-rule. The Government swiftly arrested him for sedition. He asked a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah to represent him. But the British judge convicted him and he was imprisoned from 1908 to 1914 in the Mandalay Prison, Burma. [ While imprisoned, he continued to read and write, further developing his ideas on the Indian Nationalist movement. While in the prison he wrote the famous " Gita Rahasya ". Lots of copies of which were sold and the money was donated for the freedom fighting.

14. Life after prison

15. When he emerged from prison, he was revered as a martyr and a national hero and adopted a new slogan, " Swaraj (Self-Rule) is my birth right and I shall have it." Tilak had mellowed after his release in June 1914, more because of the diabetes and hardship in Mandalay prison. When World war I started in August, Tilak , cabled the King-Emperor in Britain of his support and turned his oratory to find new recruits for war efforts. He welcomed The Indian Councils Act, popularly known as Minto -Morley Reforms which had been passed by British parliament in May 1909 terming it as ‘a marked increase of confidence between the Rulers and the Ruled’. Acts of violence actually retarded than hastened the pace of political reforms, he felt. He was eager for reconciliation with Congress and had abandoned his demand for direct action and settled for agitations ‘strictly by constitutional means’ - a line advocated by his rival Gopal Krishna Gokhale . Tilak saw the spark in Gandhi and tried his best to convince Gandhi to leave the idea of "Total Ahinsa " and try to get " Swarajya " by all means. Gandhi though looked upon him as his guru, did not change his mind.

16. MANDALAY JAIL