Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Alternate name(s): Lokmanya Tilak
Place of birth: Ratnagiri, Maharashtra,
India Place of death: Mumbai,
India Movement: Indian Independence Movement
Major organizations: Indian National Congress
Early life
Tilak was born in Madhali Alee (Middle Lane) in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, into a middle class Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father was a famous schoolteacher and a scholar of Sanskrit. He died when Tilak was sixteen. His brilliance rubbed off on young Tilak, who graduated from Deccan College, Pune in 1877. Tilak was among one of the first generation of Indians to receive a college education.[1]
Tilak was expected, through Brahmin Marathi tradition, to actively participate in public affairs. He believed that “Religion and practical life are not different. To take to Samnyasa (renunciation) is not to abandon life. The real spirit is to make the country your family instead of working only for your own. The step beyond is to serve humanity and the next step is to serve God.” This dedication to humanity would be a fundamental element in the Indian Nationalist movement.[2]
After graduating, Tilak began teaching mathematics in a private school in Pune. Later due to some philosophical differences with the colleagues in the New School, he decided to withdraw from that activity. In that time frame he became a journalist. He was a strong critic of the Western education system, feeling it demeaned the Indian students and disrespected India’s heritage. He organized the Deccan Education Society with a few of his college friends, including Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Vishnu Krishna Chiplunkar whose goal was to improve the quality of education for India’s youth. The Deccan Education Society was set up to create a new system that taught young Indians nationalist ideas through an emphasis on Indian culture.[3] Tilak began a mass movement towards independence that was camouflaged by an emphasis on a religious and cultural revival.[4] He taught Mathematics at Fergusson College.
