Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak life introduction
Bal Gangadhar Tilak is also called the father of the Indian National Movement. Because he was the founder of the Indian National Movement and became its first leader.
He was a very talented man as he was a teacher, lawyer, social worker, freedom fighter, and national leader by profession.
He was very good in subjects like history, Sanskrit, astronomy, and mathematics. Therefore people also called him ‘Lokmanya‘.
Before the independence of India, he had said that ‘Swarajya‘ is my birthright, and we will achieve it.’ This slogan was liked by many people.
Bal Gangadhar did not take any special interest in supporting Mahatma Gandhi, because Gandhi was a priest of non-violence and truth, while Bal Gangadhar Tilak did not think it right to fully adopt non-violence, he believed that violence should be done when needed.
Key points
| Full Name | Keshav Gangadhar Tilak |
| Mother name | Parvati Bai Gangadhar |
| Father name | Gangadhar Ramchandra Tilak |
| Date of birth | 23/7/1856 |
| Place of Birth | Ratnagiri, Maharashtra |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Cast | Brahmin |
| Wife | Satyabhamabai tilak |
| Death | 1/8/1920 |
| Political Party | Indian National Congress |
Tilak was born in a Brahmin family. And his father was a Sanskrit teacher by profession. Tilak was very fond of studies, and mathematics was his favorite subject.
When Tilak was 10 years old, then his father came to Pune from Ratnagiri in connection with work along with his family. And in Pune Tilak joined the Anglo-Vernacular School and completed his education.
His mother died a few months after reaching Pune and his father also died when Bal Gangadhar Tilak was just 16 years old.
While studying matriculation Tilak married a 10-year-old girl named Tapibai, and later changed the name of the same girl to Satyabhama.
After completing the matriculation examination, Tilak was enrolled in Deccan College, and from there secured the first position in B.A degree. And then later also obtained LLB degree.
Career
After completing graduation, he became a mathematics teacher in a private school. But after a few months, he left the teacher’s job and became a journalist. And at that time Bal Gangadhar was aware of all the activities going on in India, and he also wanted to raise the voice for those activities.
He was a critic of the Western education system because he said that students of India are degraded by the Western education system, and the culture of India is also misrepresented.
He, along with some of his friends, founded the Deccan Education Society to improve Indian education. And a year later he started printing two types of newspapers, ‘Kesari‘ and ‘Mahratta‘ and from them, Kesari newspaper was in Marathi and Mahratta was in the English language.
In a short time, both these newspapers became famous in India. Through his newspapers, he used to write about the plight of India.
In those newspapers, he used to print pictures of people’s sufferings and real events. He believed that we should come forward and fight for our rights. And he used to use furious language to provoke the Indian youth.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak political career
In the year 1890, Bal Gangadhar joined the National Congress of India to raise his voice against the British government. He was also an important member of the Pune Municipal Council and the Bombay Legislature.
Although Tilak married a 10-year-old girl, but later he started opposing child marriage and supporting widow remarriage.
In the year 1897, a case was filed on Tilak as he was accused of spreading unrest in the society through his speeches and also opposing the government. And therefore he went to jail for half a year.
He was released from prison in the year 1898. The British government called him ‘the father of Indian unrest. Even when he was in jail, people used to call him a martyr or a hero at that time.
After coming out of jail, he started the Swadeshi movement. And through his newspapers and speeches, he used to awake people of the villages of Maharashtra. He also built a large indigenous market near his home. Because he wanted people to boycott foreign goods
At that time, the Congress Party was divided into two factions – Moderate and Extremist. The extremist group was run by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and the moderate group was run by Gopal Krishna. These two groups were against each other but their intention the same, and that was India’s independence.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was supported by Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, and therefore people started calling this group ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’.
In the year 1909, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in his paper Kesari, immediately talked about Swaraj, due to which he was charged with treason, and was sent to jail for 6 years, he used to study in the books in jail.
On 8 June 1916, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was released from prison. And within a few days, he joined the Congress party. And he tried to bring both parties of Congress together
He also explained to Mahatma Gandhi that being completely non-violent is also not a good thing. However, nobody accepted this thing.
Later he founded a new party called ‘Home Rule League‘. And then later he kept trying to add all Indians in the Swaraj movement.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak death
He tried his whole life for India’s independence, sometimes with his speeches, sometimes with his speeches, but unfortunately he died in Mumbai before independence on 1 August 1920.
He worked all his life to achieve Swaraj, although his name will always be remembered in freedom fighters.
Books written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- Orion
- The arctic home in the veda
- Geeta secret
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