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Bal Gangadhar Tilak (July 22, 1856-Aug 1, 1920) is recognized as the
Father of Indian Unrest. He was one of the prime
architects of modern India and heralded asian nationalism. His philosophy
could not survive after his death as India came under
sway of Mahatma Gandhi.
He believed that independence is the foremost necessity for the well
being of a nation and that to win it extreme measures should
not be dispensed with. He was the first intellectual leader to understand
the importance of mass support and subsequently
became the first mass leader of India. He realized that the constitutional
agitation in itself was futile against the British and that,
moreover, India was ill prepared for an armed revolt. As a result,
although helpful to revolutionaries such as Savarkar,
Aurobindo Ghosh and Chaphekar, he did not venture into it himself.
Instead, he created and martialled the extremist wing of
Indian National Congress. His movement was based on the principles
of Swadeshi (reliance on indigenous products), Boycott
and Education. Through his own example he gave prestige to imprisonment
during freedom struggle. Violent arguments
characterized his relationship with social reformists such as Agarkar,
Ranade and moderates like Firozshah Mehta.
Many blame him for opposing the Age of Consent Bill which raised the
age limit for marriage of girls to 12 (from 10). But it is
fact that at the same time he had signed a counter-proposal wherein
one of the clauses was that the girls (boys) should not be
married until they are 16 (20). He educated all of his daughters and
did not marry them till they were over 16. There are
instances when he privately paid for the education of women. Still
it remains true that he was a reactionary and did not use his
considerable influence to give a much needed support to the social
reformists. Probably, he did not want to offend the prevalent
rigid system - he, himself, having been brought up in the culturally
narrow surroundings of Pune. He had several discussions with
Shankaracharya of Sankeshwar and asserted that like Swami Vivekananda,
the modern Shankaracharya must be educated on
modern lines.
Tilak received Bachelor of Arts degree from The Deccan College, Pune
in 1879 and L.L.B. from the Elphinston College,
Mumbai in 1882. He was among the founders of the New English School,
Pune (1881) of which Prof Chiplunkar became the
Principal. He had a genius for organization and with Agarkar, the then
foremost social reformist, started the newspapers Kesari
and The Maratha in 1881 and in 1890's started the annual celebration
of Shivaji Festival and Ganapati Festival which
served a platform for people to join in the nationalist movement against
the British. Soon he came to be regarded as the
undisputed leader of Maharashtra and was honored with the title Lokamanya
in 1893 which became synonymous with him
since 1900. As the nation fumed over the partition of Bengal (1905),
Tilak assumed the national leadership with his extremist
attitude and stated his position unequivocally as "Swarajya (freedom)
is my birth right and I shall have it." The next three years
saw meteoric rise in his stature and the British power which had long
since considered him their chief concern and had sent him
to prison twice already, decided on a firmer measure. Much has been
said of his trial of 1908 .
He utilized his time in prison to in scholarly pursuits and wrote Gita
Rahasya, a commentary on the Gita. He returned to Indian
political scene in 1915. The political situation was fast changing
under the shadow of World War I. Mahatma Gandhi's star was
on rise with Satyagraha at Sabarmati in 1914. The British charged Tilak
in 1918. He fought those charges both in India and
England, and was judged guilty. Amidst rumours of yet another sentence,
he headed the Home-Rule commission in England to
debate India's constitutional demands while Gandhi was finishing preparations
of the first nation wide non cooperation
movement.
His health continued to deteriorate rapidly at end of July 1920 and
he went delirious and was unconscious for 3 days. His last
words in the final momentary recovery were, "This happened in 1818
(End of Peshwai) and this in 1918. A hundred years'
history - what a life of servitude...Unless freedom is won, India shall
not prosper. It is necessary for our very own existence." At
00:40 on Aug 1, 1920, he was declared dead.
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