Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (birth name: Keshav Gangadhar Tilak) was born on July 23, 1856. Whatever designation given to him is less whether we call him Indian nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer or independent thinker or social activist. He is from the very first movement of Indian Independence League and was popularly given the name of “father of the Indian unrest”. He strongly advocated Swaraj as the birth right. He is also considered as father of Indian National Movement.

Childhood

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra in a Brahmin family to Gangadhar Ramachandra Tilak. Since childhood he had a very bold, strong and intolerant attitude towards injustice. He also did not like circumlocution of things but straightforward and honest.

Education

He loved mathematics and was a brilliant student. He was scholar of Indian history, Sanskrit, Hinduism and Astronomy. He joined the Anglo-Vernacular School in Pune and got education from some of the well-known teachers. After passing matriculation, he joined the Deccan College and earned his degree in B.A. Mathematics and with first class but still continued his studies and did LL.B degree in 1879.

Career

Immediately after graduating, Bal Gangadhar Tilak started teaching mathematics in a school in Pune. Not sticking to the job, he switched to becoming a journalist. He became a critic of education. He found education to be the most important tool to mold anybody’s thinking especially of youth because Indian system of education gives you moral and values. For imparting education, he founded Deccan Education Society.

Later he joined Indian National Congress in 1890. He was a tremendous social reformer. Being a member of Bombay Legislature and elected member of Bombay University, he issued in public interest to ban child marriage. He wanted to eradicate all social evils and improve the condition of Indian society. He also supported and welcomed widow remarriage. In all these matters he became very active and thus, appeared as a threat to the then British government. He was convicted and sentenced to jail for a period of one and half year. As soon as he got released from the jail he launched Swadeshi Movement (urging people to use natively produced goods only). He tried to create awareness through newspapers and upto some extent he became successful too. As a result, he got arrested on the charges of sedition for a period of six years in Burma.

At the end

His interests in books lead him to write ‘Gita Rahasya’, which he wrote while in jail. After being released from the jail, he spent most of his time reuniting people for the fight of Swaraj. He went from village to village and created awareness about his goal and got positive response from people. He continuously travelled without realizing his age and taking care of his health. He was so focused on his goal that he forgot everything surrounding him and his environment. Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on 1st August, 1920, while propagating the Indian Independence movement.