Bal Gangadhar Tilak, byname Lokamanya, was born on July 23, 1856, Ratnagiri , and died on August 1, 1920, Bombay. He was a scholar, mathematician, philosopher, and ardent nationalist who helped lay the foundation for India’s independence by building his own defiance of British rule into a national movement. He founded 1914 and served as president of the Indian Home Rule League. In 1916 he concluded the Lucknow Pact with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, which provided for Hindu-Muslim unity in the nationalist struggle.
Early Life And Career
Tilak was born into a cultured middle-class Brahman family. Although his birth place was Bombay (Mumbai) he was raised in a village along the Arabian Sea coast in what is now Maharashtra state until the age of 10, when his father, an educator and noted grammarian, took a job in Poona (now Pune). The young Tilak was educated at Deccan College in Poona, where in 1876,he earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and Sanskrit. Tilak then studied law, receiving his degree in 1879 from the University of Bombay (now Mumbai). At that point, however, he decided to teach mathematics in a private school in Poona.
The school became the basis for his political career. He developed the institution into a university college after founding the Deccan Education Society (1884), which aimed at educating the masses, especially in the English language; he and his associates considered English to be a powerful force for the dissemination of liberal and democratic ideals.
Today, the country is remembering him on his 164th birth anniversary. People are paying tribute to him by posting his quotes or sharing information about his contribution during the national struggle on social media. Apart from netizens, political leaders have also paid homage to Tilak on his birth anniversary.
