Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (or Lokmanya Tilak, pronunciation ;

Lokmanya
23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), born as Keshav Gangadhar
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Tilak, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence
activist. He was one third of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate.[5] Tilak
was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The
British colonial authorities called him "The father of the Indian
unrest." He was also conferred with the title of "Lokmanya",
which means "accepted by the people (as their leader)".[6]
Mahatma Gandhi called him "The Maker of Modern India".[7]

Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of Swaraj ("self-
rule") and a strong radical in Indian consciousness. He is known
for his quote in Marathi: "Swarajya is my birthright and I shall
have it!". He formed a close alliance with many Indian National
Congress leaders including Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai,
Born 23 July 1856
Aurobindo Ghose, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Muhammad Ali
Ratnagiri district,
Jinnah.
Bombay State, British
India (present-day
Maharashtra,
Contents India)[1][2][3]
Died 1 August 1920
Early life
(aged 64)
Political career Bombay, Bombay
Indian National Congress
State, British India
Sedition Charges (present-day Mumbai,
Imprisonment in Mandalay Maharashtra, India)
Life after Mandalay
Occupation Author, politician,
All India Home Rule League
freedom fighter
Religio-Political Views
Political Indian National
Social views
party Congress
Women's issues
Untouchability Movement Indian Independence
Esteem for Swami Vivekananda movement

Conflicts with Shahu over caste issues Spouse(s) Satyabhamabai Tilak

Social contributions and legacy Children Sridhar Balwant

Tilak,[4] Vishwanath
Books
Balwant Tilak,
Descendants Rambhau Balwant
References Tilak
Further reading
External links
Early life
Keshav Gangadhar Tilak was born on 23 July 1856 in an Indian
Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family in Ratnagiri, the
headquarters of the Ratnagiri district of present-day Maharashtra
(then Bombay Presidency).[1] His ancestral village was Chikhali. His
father, Gangadhar Tilak was a school teacher and a Sanskrit scholar
who died when Tilak was sixteen. In 1871 Tilak was married to
Tapibai (Née Bal) when he was sixteen, a few months before his
father's death. After marriage, her name was changed to
Satyabhamabai. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in first class in Tilak's birthplace
Mathematics from Deccan College of Pune in 1877. He left his M.A.
course of study midway to join the LL.B course instead, and in 1879
he obtained his LL.B degree from Government Law College .[8] After graduating, Tilak started
teaching mathematics at a private school in Pune. Later, due to ideological differences with the
colleagues in the new school, he withdrew and became a journalist. Tilak actively participated in
public affairs. He stated: "Religion and practical life are not different. 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."[9]

Inspired by Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, he co-founded the New English school for secondary education
in 1880 with a few of his college friends, including Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi
and Vishnushastri Chiplunkar. Their goal was to improve the quality of education for India's youth.
The success of the school led them to set up the Deccan Education Society in 1884 to create a new
system of education that taught young Indians nationalist ideas through an emphasis on Indian
culture.[10] The Society established the Fergusson College in 1885 for post-secondary studies. Tilak
taught mathematics at Fergusson College. In 1890, Tilak left the Deccan Education Society for more
openly political work.[11] He began a mass movement towards independence by an emphasis on a
religious and cultural revival.[12]

Political career
Tilak had a long political career agitating for Indian autonomy from the British rule. Before Gandhi,
he was the most widely known Indian political leader. Unlike his fellow Maharashtrian contemporary,
Gokhale, Tilak was considered a radical Nationalist but a Social conservative. He was imprisoned on a
number of occasions that included a long stint at Mandalay. At one stage in his political life he was
called "the father of Indian unrest" by British author Sir Valentine Chirol.[13]

Indian National Congress

Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in 1890. He opposed its moderate attitude, especially
towards the fight for self-government. He was one of the most-eminent radicals at the time.[14] In
fact, it was the Swadeshi movement of 1905–1907 that resulted in the split within the Indian National
Congress into the Moderates and the Extremists[11]
Despite being personally opposed to early marriage, Tilak was against 1891 Age of Consent bill, seeing
it as interference with Hinduism and a dangerous precedent. The act raised the age at which a girl
could marry from 10 to 12 years.

During late 1896, a bubonic plague spread from Bombay to Pune, and by January 1897, it reached
epidemic proportions. British troops were brought in to deal with the emergency and harsh measures
were employed including forced entry into private houses, the examination of occupants, evacuation
to hospitals and segregation camps, removing and destroying personal possessions, and preventing
patients from entering or leaving the city. By the end of May, the epidemic was under control. They
were widely regarded as acts of tyranny and oppression. Tilak took up this issue by publishing
inflammatory articles in his paper Kesari (Kesari was written in Marathi, and "Maratha" was written
in English), quoting the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, to say that no blame could be attached to
anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward. Following this, on 22 June 1897,
Commissioner Rand and another British officer, Lt. Ayerst were shot and killed by the Chapekar
brothers and their other associates. According to Barbara and Thomas R. Metcalf, Tilak "almost surely
concealed the identities of the perpetrators".[15]:154 Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and
sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. When he emerged from prison in present-day Mumbai, he
was revered as a martyr and a national hero. He adopted a new slogan coined by his associate Kaka
Baptista: "Swaraj (self-rule) is my birthright and I shall have it."[16]

Following the Partition of Bengal, which was a strategy set out by Lord Curzon to weaken the
nationalist movement, Tilak encouraged the Swadeshi movement and the Boycott movement.[17] The
movement consisted of the boycott of foreign goods and also the social boycott of any Indian who
used foreign goods. The Swadeshi movement consisted of the usage of natively produced goods. Once
foreign goods were boycotted, there was a gap which had to be filled by the production of those goods
in India itself. Tilak said that the Swadeshi and Boycott movements are two sides of the same coin.[18]

Tilak opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale,

and was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin
Chandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. They
were referred to as the "Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate". In 1907, the
annual session of the Congress Party was held at Surat,
Gujarat. Trouble broke out over the selection of the new
president of the Congress between the moderate and the
radical sections of the party. The party split into the radicals
faction, led by Tilak, Pal and Lajpat Rai, and the moderate
faction. Nationalists like Aurobindo Ghose, V. O.
Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab, Bal
Chidambaram Pillai were Tilak supporters.[14][19] By now,
Gangadhar Tilak (middle) of
Tilak had become one of the most prominent Indian Maharashtra, and Bipin Chandra Pal of
nationalists. Bengal, the triumvirate were popularly
known as Lal Bal Pal, changed the
When asked in Calcutta whether he envisioned a Maratha- political discourse of the Indian
type of government for independent India, Tilak replied that independence movement.
the Maratha-dominated governments of 17th and 18th
centuries were outmoded in the 20th century, and he wanted
a genuine federal system for Free India where every religion and race was an equal partner. He added
that only such a form of government would be able to safeguard India's freedom. He was the first
Congress leader to suggest that Hindi written in the Devanagari script be accepted as the sole national
language of India.[20]

Sedition Charges
During his lifetime among other political cases, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had been tried for Sedition
Charges in three times by British India Government—in 1897,[21] 1909,[22] and 1916.[23] In 1897, Tilak
was sentenced to 18 months in prison for preaching disaffection against the Raj. In 1909, he was again
charged with sedition and intensifying racial animosity between Indians and the British. The Bombay
lawyer Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Tilak's defence could not annul the evidence in Tilak's polemical
articles and Tilak was sentenced to six years in prison in Burma.[11]

Imprisonment in Mandalay
On 30 April 1908, two Bengali youths, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage
at Muzzafarpur, to kill the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford of Calcutta fame, but
erroneously killed two women traveling in it. While Chaki committed suicide when caught, Bose was
hanged. Tilak, in his paper Kesari, defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or
self-rule. The Government swiftly charged him with sedition. At the conclusion of the trial, a special
jury convicted him by 7:2 majority. The judge, Dinshaw D. Davar[24] gave him a six years jail sentence
to be served in Mandalay, Burma and a fine of Rs 1,000. On being asked by the judge whether he had
anything to say, Tilak said:

All that I wish to say is that, in spite of the verdict of the jury, I still maintain that I am
innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations; and I think,
it may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my
suffering than by my pen and tongue.

In passing sentence, the judge indulged in some scathing strictures against Tilak's conduct. He threw
off the judicial restraint which, to some extent, was observable in his charge to the jury. He
condemned the articles as "seething with sedition", as preaching violence, speaking of murders with
approval. "You hail the advent of the bomb in India as if something had come to India for its good. I
say, such journalism is a curse to the country". Tilak was sent to Mandalay from 1908 to 1914.[25]
While imprisoned, he continued to read and write, further developing his ideas on the Indian
nationalist movement. While in the prison he wrote the Gita Rahasya.[26] Many copies of which were
sold, and the money was donated for the Indian Independence movement..

Life after Mandalay

Tilak developed diabetes during his sentence in Mandalay prison. This and the general ordeal of
prison life had mellowed him at his release on 16 June 1914. When World War I started in August of
that year, Tilak cabled the King-Emperor George V of his support and turned his oratory to find new
recruits for war efforts. He welcomed The Indian Councils Act, popularly known as Minto-Morley
Reforms, which had been passed by British Parliament in May 1909, terming it as "a marked increase
of confidence between the Rulers and the Ruled". It was his conviction that acts of violence actually
diminished, rather than hastening, the pace of political reforms.
He was eager for reconciliation with Congress and had
abandoned his demand for direct action and settled for agitations
"strictly by constitutional means" – a line that had long been
advocated by his rival Gokhale.[27] Tilak reunited with his fellow
nationalists and rejoined the Indian National Congress in 1916.

Tilak tried to convince Mohandas Gandhi to leave the idea of

Total non-violence ("Total Ahimsa") and try to get self-rule
("Swarajya") by all means. Though Gandhi did not entirely concur
with Tilak on the means to achieve self-rule and was steadfast in
his advocacy of satyagraha, he appreciated Tilak's services to the
country and his courage of conviction. After Tilak lost a civil suit
against Valentine Chirol and incurred pecuniary loss, Gandhi
even called upon Indians to contribute to the Tilak Purse Fund
started with the objective of defraying the expenses incurred by
Tilak.[28]

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

All India Home Rule League
Tilak helped found the All India Home Rule League in 1916–18,
with G. S. Khaparde and Annie Besant. After years of trying to reunite the moderate and radical
factions, he gave up and focused on the Home Rule League, which sought self-rule. Tilak travelled
from village to village for support from farmers and locals to join the movement towards self-rule.[25]
Tilak was impressed by the Russian Revolution, and expressed his admiration for Vladimir Lenin.[29]
The league had 1400 members in April 1916, and by 1917 membership had grown to approximately
32,000. Tilak started his Home Rule League in Maharashtra, Central Provinces, and Karnataka and
Berar region. Besant's League was active in the rest part of India.[30]

Religio-Political Views
Tilak sought to unite the Indian population for mass political action throughout his life. For this to
happen, he believed there needed to be a comprehensive justification for anti-British pro-Hindu
activism. For this end, he sought justification in the supposed original principles of the Ramayana and
the Bhagavad Gita. He named this call to activism karma-yoga or the yoga of action.[31] In his
interpretation, the Bhagavad Gita reveals this principle in the conversation between Krishna and
Arjuna when Krishna exhorts Arjuna to fight his enemies (which in this case included many members
of his family) because it is his duty. In Tilaks opinion, the Bhagavad Gita provided a strong
justification of activism. However, this conflicted with the mainstream exegesis of the text at the time
which was predominated by renunciate views and the idea of acts purely for God. This was
represented by the two mainstream views at the time by Ramanuja and Adi Shankara. To find support
for this philosophy, Tilak wrote his own interpretations of the relevant passages of the Gita and
backed his views using Jnanadeva's commentary on the Gita, Ramanuja's critical commentary and his
own translation of the Gita.[32] His main battle was against the renunciate views of the time which
conflicted with worldly activism. To fight this, he went to extents to reinterpret words such as karma,
dharma, yoga as well as the concept of renunciation itself. Because he found his rationalization on
Hindu religious symbols and lines, he alienated many non-Hindus such as the Muslims who began to
ally with the British for support.

Social views
Tilak was strongly opposed to liberal trends emerging in Pune such as women's rights and social
reforms against untouchability.[33][34][35]

Women's issues
Tilak vehemently opposed the establishment of the first Native girls High school (now called
Huzurpaga) in Pune in 1885 and its curriculum using his newspapers, the Mahratta and
Kesari.[34][36][37] Tilak was also opposed to intercaste marriage, particularly the match where an
upper caste woman married a lower caste man.[37] In the case of Deshasthas, Chitpawans and
Karhades, he encouraged these three Maharashtrian Brahmin groups to give up "caste exclusiveness"
and intermarry.[38] Tilak officially opposed the age of consent bill which raised the age of marriage
from ten to twelve for girls, however he was willing to sign a circular that increased age of marriage
for girls to sixteen and twenty for boys. He fully supported social reforms but in his opinion self-rule
took precedence over any social reform.[39][40]On the whole Tilak was not against social reforms.
Though he was against the age of consent bill, he arranged his daughter's marriage at the age of
fifteen. He also advocated widow marriages. He also congratulated Dhondo Keshav Karve when he
married a widow after the death of their first wife. He was in the favour of social reforms but without
the interference of British Government.[41]

Child bride Rukhmabai was married at the age of eleven but refused to go and live with her husband.
The husband sued for restitution of conjugal rights, initially lost but appealed the decision. On 4
March 1887, Justice Farran, using interpretations of Hindu laws, ordered Rukhmabai to "go live with
her husband or face six months of imprisonment". Tilak approved of this decision of the court and
said that the court was following Hindu Dharmaśāstras. Rukhmabai responded that she would rather
face imprisonment than obey the verdict. Her marriage was later dissolved by Queen Victoria. Later,
she went on to receive her Doctor of Medicine degree from the London School of Medicine for
Women.[42][43][44][45]

In 1890, when an eleven-year-old Phulamani Bai died while having sexual intercourse with her much
older husband, the Parsi social reformer Behramji Malabari supported the Age of Consent Act, 1891 to
raise the age of a girl's eligibility for marriage. Tilak opposed the Bill and said that the Parsis as well as
the English had no jurisdiction over the (Hindu) religious matters. He blamed the girl for having
"defective female organs" and questioned how the husband could be "persecuted diabolically for
doing a harmless act". He called the girl one of those "dangerous freaks of nature".[35]

Tilak did not have a progressive view when it came to gender relations. He did not believe that Hindu
women should get a modern education. Rather, he had a more conservative view, believing that
women were meant to be homemakers who had to subordinate themselves to the needs of their
husbands and children.[11]

Untouchability
Tilak refused to sign a petition for the abolition of untouchability in 1918, two years before his death,
although he had spoken against it earlier in a meeting.[33]

Esteem for Swami Vivekananda

Tilak and Swami Vivekananda had great mutual respect and esteem for each other. They met
accidentally while travelling by train in 1892 and Tilak had Vivekananda as a guest in his house. A
person who was present there(Basukaka), heard that it was agreed between Vivekananda and Tilak
that Tilak would work towards nationalism in the "political" arena, while Vivekananda would work for
nationalism in the "religious" arena. When Vivekananda died at a young age, Tilak expressed great
sorrow and paid tributes to him in the Kesari.[46][47][48][49] Tilak said about Vivekananda:

"No Hindu, who, has the interests of Hinduism at his heart, could help feeling grieved
over Vivekananda's samadhi. Vivekananda, in short, had taken the work of keeping the
banner of Advaita philosophy forever flying among all the nations of the world and made
them realize the true greatness of Hindu religion and of the Hindu people. He had hoped
that he would crown his achievement with the fulfillment of this task by virtue of his
learning, eloquence, enthusiasm and sincerity, just as he had laid a secure foundation for
it; but with Swami's samadhi, these hopes have gone. Thousands of years ago, another
saint, Shankaracharya, who, showed to the world the glory and greatness of Hinduism. At
the fag of the 19th century, the second Shankaracharya is Vivekananda, who, showed to
the world the glory of Hinduism. His work has yet to be completed. We have lost our glory,
our independence, everything."[50]

Conflicts with Shahu over caste issues

Shahu, the ruler of the princely state of Kolhapur, had several conflicts with Tilak as the latter agreed
with the Brahmins decision of Puranic rituals for the Marathas that were intended for Shudras. Tilak
even suggested that the Marathas should be "content" with the Shudra status assigned to them by the
Brahmins. Tilak's newspapers, as well as the press in Kolhapur, criticized Shahu for his caste
prejudice and his unreasoned hostility towards Brahmins. These included serious allegations such as
sexual assaults by Shahu against four Brahmin women. An English woman named Lady Minto was
petitioned to help them. The agent of Shahu had blamed these allegations on the "troublesome
brahmins". Tilak and another Brahmin suffered from the confiscation of estates by Shahu, the first
during a quarrel between Shahu and the Shankaracharya of Sankareshwar and later in another
issue.[51][52]

Social contributions and legacy

Tilak started two weeklies, Kesari ("The Lion") in Marathi and Mahratta in English (sometimes
referred as 'Maratha' in Academic Study Books)[53] in 1880–81 with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar as the
first editor. By this he was recognized as 'awakener of India', as Kesari later became a daily and
continues publication to this day.
In 1894, Tilak transformed the household worshipping of
Ganesha into a grand public event (Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav). The
celebrations consisted of several days of processions, music, and
food. They were organized by the means of subscriptions by
neighbourhood, caste, or occupation. Students often would
celebrate Hindu and national glory and address political issues;
including patronage of Swadeshi goods.[15]:152

In 1895, Tilak founded the Shri Shivaji Fund Committee for the
celebration of "Shiv Jayanti", the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati
Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. The project also had
the objective of funding the reconstruction of the tomb (Samadhi)
of Shivaji at Raigad Fort. For this second objective, Tilak
established the Shri Shivaji Raigad Smarak Mandal along with
Senapati Khanderao Dabhade II of Talegaon Dabhade, who
became the founder President of the Mandal. Statue of Tilak near Supreme Court
of Delhi
The events like the Ganapati festival and Shiv Jayanti were used
by Tilak to build a national spirit beyond the circle of the
educated elite in opposition to colonial rule. But it also exacerbated Hindu-Muslim differences. The
festival organizers would urge Hindus to protect cows and boycott the Muharram celebrations
organized by Shi'a Muslims, in which Hindus had formerly often participated. Thus, although the
celebrations were meant to be a way to oppose colonial rule, they also contributed to religious
tensions.[15]:152 Contemporary Marathi Hindu nationalist parties like the Shivsena took up his
reverence for Shivaji. However, Indian Historian, Uma Chakravarti cites Professor Gordon Johnson
and states "It is significant that even at the time when Tilak was making political use of Shivaji the
question of conceding Kshatriya status to him as Maratha was resisted by the conservative Brahmins
including Tilak. While Shivaji was a Brave man, all his bravery, it was argued, did not give him the
right to a status that very nearly approached that of a Brahmin. Further, the fact that Shivaji
worshiped the Brahmanas in no way altered social relations, 'since it was as a Shudra he did it – as a
Shudra the servant, if not the slave, of the Brahmin'".[54]

The Deccan Education Society that Tilak founded with others in the 1880s still runs Institutions in
Pune like the Fergusson College.

The Swadeshi movement started by Tilak at the beginning of the 20th century became part of the
Independence movement until that goal was achieved in 1947. One can even say Swadeshi remained
part of Indian Government policy until the 1990s when the Congress Government liberalised the
economy.[55]

Tilak Smarak Ranga Mandir, a theatre auditorium in Pune is dedicated to him. In 2007, the
Government of India released a coin to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Tilak.[56][57]

Tilak said, "I regard India as my Motherland and my Goddess, the people in India are my kith and
kin, and loyal and steadfast work for their political and social emancipation is my highest religion and
duty".[58]
Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush is a film released on 2 January 2015 based on his life. Directed by Om
Raut, Tilak is played by actor Subodh Bhave.

Books
In 1903, he wrote the book The Arctic Home in the Vedas. In it, he argued that the Vedas could
only have been composed in the Arctics, and the Aryan bards brought them south after the onset
of the last ice age. He proposed a new way to determine the exact time of the Vedas.
In "The Orion",[59] he tried to calculate the time of the Vedas by using the position of different
Nakshatras. The positions of the Nakshtras were described in different Vedas.
Tilak wrote "Shrimadh Bhagvad Gita Rahasya" in prison at Mandalay – the analysis of 'Karma
Yoga' in the Bhagavad Gita, which is known to be a gift of the Vedas and the Upanishads.

Descendants
Tilak's son, Shridhar was a campaigner for social reforms in India.[60] Shridhar's son, Jayantrao Tilak
(1921–2001) was editor of the Kesari newspaper for many years. Jayantrao was also a politician from
the Congress party. He was a member of the Parliament of India representing Maharashtra in the
Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He was also a member of the Maharashtra
Legislative Council.[61]

Rohit Tilak, a descendant of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, is a Pune-based Congress party politician.[62] In
2017, a woman with whom he had an extra-marital affair accused him of rape and other crimes. He is
currently out on bail in connection with these charges.[63][64]

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ilak_Case_-_1916.html). Bombay High Court. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
24. "Remove portrait of judge who sentenced Bal Gangadhar Tilak" (http://www.indianexpress.com/ne
ws/remove-portrait-of-judge-who-sentenced-bal-gangadhar-tilak/989585). Indian Express.
Mumbai. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
25. Embree, Ainslie Thomas ed. (1988) "Tilak, Bal Gangadhar", p. 98 in Encyclopedia of Asian
History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons and Macmillan Publishing Company.
ISBN 9780684186191
26. Richard H. Davis. The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography (https://books.google.com/books?id=vQ3rAw
AAQBAJ&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false). Princeton University Press. p. 131.
27. "From the Archives (May 10, 1919): Mr. Tilak and the Indian Situation" (https://www.thehindu.com/
archives/from-the-archives-may-10-1919-mr-tilak-and-the-indian-situation/article27083577.ece).
The Hindu. 10 May 2019. ISSN 0971-751X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0971-751X). Retrieved
12 January 2020.
28. "From the Archives (June 3, 1919): Mr. Tilak's Service. Mr. Gandhi's Speech" (https://www.thehind
u.com/archives/mr-tilaks-service-mr-gandhis-speech/article27406589.ece). The Hindu. 3 June
2019. ISSN 0971-751X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0971-751X). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
29. M. V. S. Koteswara Rao (2003). Communist parties and United Front experience in Kerala and
West Bengal (https://books.google.com/books?id=3e0SAQAAMAAJ). Prajasakti Book House.
p. 82. ISBN 978-81-86317-37-2.
30. Mohammad Tarique. Modern Indian History (https://books.google.com/books?id=pcKMD9XWyjA
C). Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0-07-066030-4.
31. Mark Harvey (1986). "Secular as Sacred? – The Religio-Political Rationalization of B.G. Tilak".
Modern Asian Studies. 20 (2): 321–331. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00000858 (https://doi.org/10.101
7%2Fs0026749x00000858). JSTOR 312578 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/312578).
32. Mark Harvey (1986). "The Secular as Sacred?-The Religio-Political Rationalization of B.G. Tilak".
Modern Asian Studies. 20 (2): 322–324. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00000858 (https://doi.org/10.101
7%2Fs0026749x00000858). JSTOR 312578 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/312578).
33. Christophe Jaffrelot (2005). Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System
(https://books.google.com/books?id=W1590ts70g0C&pg=PA177). Columbia University Press.
p. 177. ISBN 9780231136020.
34. Rao, P.V. (2008). "Women's Education and the Nationalist Response in Western India: Part II–
Higher Education". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 15 (1): 141–148.
doi:10.1177/097152150701500108 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F097152150701500108).
35. Dorothy M. Figueira (2002). Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of
Identity (https://books.google.com/books?id=eUtGblzgTn0C&pg=PA129#v=onepage&q&f=false).
State University of New York Press. p. 129. ISBN 9780791455326.
36. Rao, P.V. (2007). "Women's Education and the Nationalist Response in Western India: Part I-
Basic Education". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 14 (2): 307.
doi:10.1177/097152150701400206 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F097152150701400206).
37. Gail Omvedt (1974). "Non-Brahmans and Nationalists in Poona". Economic and Political Weekly.
9 (6/8): 201–219. JSTOR 4363419 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4363419).
38. Sandhya Gokhale (2008). The Chitpavans: social ascendancy of a creative minority in
Maharashtra, 1818–1918 (https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez4wAQAAIAAJ). Shubhi
Publications. p. 147. ISBN 978-81-8290-132-2. "As early as 1881, in a few articles Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, the resolute thinker and the enfant terrible of Indian politics, wrote comprehensive
discourses on the need for united front by the Chitpavans, Deshasthas and the Karhades.
Invoking the urgent necessity of this remarkable Brahmans combination, Tilak urged sincerely that
these three groups of Brahmans should give up caste exclusiveness by encouraging inter sub-
caste marriages and community dining.""
39. Richard I. Cashman (1975). The myth of the Lokamanya : Tilak and mass politics in Maharashtra
(https://books.google.com/?id=905gbgzGN1EC&pg=PP52). Berkeley: University of California
Press. pp. 52–54. ISBN 978-0520024076.
40. Jayapalan, N (2003). "Chapter 8:Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)". Indian Political
Thinkers:Modern Indian Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributers. p. 97. ISBN 81-
7156-929-3.
41. Jayapalan, N (2003). "Chapter 8:Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)". Indian Political
Thinkers:Modern Indian Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributers. p. 97. ISBN 81-
7156-929-3.
42. Geraldine Hancock Forbes (1999). Women in Modern India, Part 4, Volume 2 (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA69). Cambridge University Press. p. 69.
ISBN 9780521653770.
43. Shompa Lahiri (2000). Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880–1930
(https://books.google.com/books?id=GuvRWlN_cQkC&pg=PA13). p. 13. ISBN 9780714649863.
44. Chandra, Sudhir (1996). "Rukhmabai: Debate over Woman's Right to Her Person". Economic and
Political Weekly. 31 (44): 2937–2947. JSTOR 4404742 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4404742).
45. Helen Rappaport (2003). Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=NLGhimIiFPoC&pg=PA429). ABC-CLIO. p. 429. ISBN 9781851093557.
46. Vishwanath Prasad Varma; Lakshmi Narain Agarwa (1978). The Life and Philosophy of
Lokamanya Tilak: With Excerpts from Original Sources. "THE RELATIONS OF TILAK AND
VIVEKANANDA The personal relations between Tilak and Swami Vivekananda (1863– 1902)
were marked by great mutual regards and esteem. In 1892, Tilak was returning from Bombay to
Poona and had occupied a seat in a second-class railway compartment. Some Gujaratis
accompanied Swami Vivekananda who also came and sat in the same compartment. The Gujarati
introduced the Swami to Tilak and requested the Swami to stay with the latter.."
47. P. R. Bhuyan (2003). Swami Vivekananda: Messiah of Resurgent India. p. 191. ISBN 978-81-269-
0234-7. "93. Among the Congressmen there was one exception and that was Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, whose patriotism was marked by 'sacrifice, scholastic fervour and militancy.'94 Tilak a great
scholar, was also a fearless patriot, who wanted to meet the challenge of British imperialism with
passive resistance and boycott of British goods. This programme came to the forefront in 1905-7,
some years after the death of Swami Vivekananda. It would be useless to speculate what Swamiji
would have ..."
48. "The Vedanta Kesari – Volume 65". 1978. p. 407. "Here it will not be out of place to refer to Tilak's
views of Swami Vivekananda whom he did not know intimately; but Swamiji's dynamic personality
and powerful exposition of the Vedantic doctrine, could not fail to impress Tilak. When Swamiji's
great soul sought eternal rest on the 4th July 1902, Tilak, paying his tributes to him, wrote in his
Kesari: "No Hindu who has the interest of Hinduism at his heart, can help feeling grieved over
Swami Vivekananda's Samadhi""
49. "Yuva Bharati – Volume 7". 1979. p. 70. "According to Basukaka, when Swamiji was living in
Tilak's house as the latter's guest, Basukaka, who was present there, heard that it was agreed
between Vivekananda and Tilak that Tilak would work for nationalism in the political field, while
Vivekananda would work for nationalism in the religious field. Tilak and Vivekananda Now let us
see what Tilak had himself to say about the meeting he had with Swamiji. Writing in the Vedanta
Kesari (January •934), Tilak recalled the meeting.."
50. A.K. Bhagwat; G.P. Pradhan (2015). Lokmanya Tilak – A Biography (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=bYfMbCXyc3kC&pg=PT226). p. 226. ISBN 9788179928462. "... Vivekanand was another
powerful influence in turning the thoughts of Tilak from western to eastern philosophy. No Hindu,
he says, who, has the interests of Hinduism at his heart, could help to feel grieved over
Vivekananda's samadhi. ...Vivekananda, in short, had taken the work of keeping the banner of
Advaita philosophy forever flying among all the nations of the world and made them realize the
true greatness of Hindu religion and of the Hindu people. He had hoped that he would crown his
achievement with the fulfillment of this task by virtue of his learning, eloquence, enthusiasm, and
sincerity, just as he had laid a secure foundation for it; but with Swami's samadhi, these hopes
have gone. Thousands of years ago, another saint, Shankaracharya, showed to the world the
glory and greatness of Hinduism. At the fag of the 19th century, the second Shankaracharya is
Vivekananda, who, showed to the world the glory of Hinduism. His work has yet to be completed.
We have lost our glory, our independence, everything."
51. Mike Shepperdson; Colin Simmons (1988). The Indian National Congress Party and Political
Economy in India, 1885–1985. p. 109. ISBN 9780566050763. "This connection with the British
has tended to obscure an equally important significance in Shahu's exchanges with Tilak,
especially in the dispute over the Vedokta, the right of Shahu's family and of other Marathas to
use the Vedic rituals of the twice-born Kshatriya, rather than the puranic rituals and shudra status
with which Tilak and conservative Brahman opinion held that the Marathas should be content."
52. Gordon Johnson (8 June 2005). Provincial Politics and Indian Nationalism: Bombay and the
Indian National Congress 1880–1915 (https://books.google.com/books?id=4kaZV5CdzsAC&pg=P
A104). Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-521-61965-3. "The anti-durbar pressin
kolhapur aligned itself with Tilak's newspapers and reproved Shahu for his caste prejudice and his
unreasoned hostility towards Brahmins. To the Bombay government, and to the Vicereine herself,
the Brahmins in Kolhapur presented themselves as the victims of a ruthless persecution by the
Maharaja. .....Both Natu and Tilak suffered from the durbar's confiscation of estates – first during
the confiscation of estates in Kolhapur – the first during a quarrel between Shahu and the
Shankaracharya of Sankareshwar. S ee, for example, Samarth, 8 August 1906, quoted in I.
Copland, 'The Maharaja of Kolhapur', in Modern Asian studies, vol II, no 2(April 1973), 218. In
1906, the 'poor helpless women' of Kolhapur petitioned Lady Minto alleging that four Brahmin
ladies had been forcibly seduced by the Maharaja and that the Political Agent had refused to act
in the matter. Broadsheets were distributed maintaining 'no beautiful woman is immune from the
violence of the Maharaja...and the Brahmins being special objects of hatred no Brahmin women
can hope to escape this shameful fate'...But the agent blamed everything on the troublesome
brahmins."
53. The New Encyclopædia Britannica: Solovyov – Truck, Volume 11 (https://books.google.com/?id=p
qlWFWRdrosC&q=%22and+The+Mahratta,+published+in+English.%22&dq=%22and+The+Mahra
tta,+published+in+English.%22). Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 1997. p. 772.
ISBN 9780852296332.
54. Uma Chakravarti (2013). Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=9TenDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT125). Zubaan Books. ISBN 9789383074631.
55. Globalisation versus Swadeshi – A tricky problem for Vajpayee | South Asia Analysis Group (htt
p://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper134). Southasiaanalysis.org. Retrieved on 20 December
2018.
56. "Tilak family awaits 3 lakh coins" (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tilak-family-awaits-3-lakh-c
oins/208791/0). Indian Express. Pune. 5 August 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
57. "Flawed 'Tilak coin' upsets many" (http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/flawed-tilak-coin-upsets-
many_386519.html). Pune: Zee News. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
58. Minor Robert (1986). Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. State University of NY
press. ISBN 0-88706-298-9
59. Bal Gangadhar Thilak (1893) Orion, or Researches into the Antiquities of the Vedas
60. Sukhdeo Thorat. "9th Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer Memorial Lecture on 5th August 2017 "Why
Untouchability, Caste Discrimination and Atrocities still persists despite Law? Reflections on
Causes for Persistence and Solutions" " (http://www.csss-isla.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/W
hy-Untouchability-and-Atrocities-Persists-Despite-Laws-edited.pdf) (PDF). Centre for Study of
Society and Secularism. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
61. "Rajya Sabha Web Site" (http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/pre_member/1952_2003/t.pdf) (PDF).
p. 5. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
62. Shoumojit Banerjee (16 March 2017). "Mukta Tilak, MBA, is Pune's first BJP mayor" (http://www.th
ehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/mukta-tilak-mba-is-punes-first-bjp-mayor/articl
e17469864.ece). The Hindu.
63. Archana More (11 August 2017). "ROHIT TILAK'S BAIL IN RAPE CASE EXTENDED BY COURT"
(https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/rohit-tilaks-bail-in-rape-case-extended-by-court/articl
eshow/60010263.cms). India Times.
64. Shalaka Shinde (19 July 2017). "Great grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak charged with rape in
Pune" (https://www.hindustantimes.com/pune-news/rohit-tilak-booked-under-rape-charges-in-pun
e/story-OQ7OvsESG9WW2opyH3dx8H.html). Hindustan Times.

Further reading
 Lokmanya Tilak: A Biography, by A K Bhagwat and G P Pradhan (Publisher JAICO)
Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta: Geeta Rahasya by Lokmanya Tilak (Sharda Prakashan)
Parimala V. Rao (2011). Foundations of Tilak's Nationalism: Discrimination, Education and
Hindutva (https://books.google.com/books?id=El26nQEACAAJ). Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-
250-4268-6.
Ram Gopal, Lokmanya Tilak—A Biography

External links
Bal Gangadhar Tilak materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) (http://www.s
aadigitalarchive.org/search/bal%20gangadhar%20tilak)
Full and authentic report of the Tilak trial (1908) being the only authorised verbatim account of the
whole proceedings with introduction and character sketch of Bal Gangadhar Tikak: Together with
press opinion (https://books.google.com/books?id=z0PhaNcSr_UC), 1908, Narsinha Chintaman
Kelkar
Antiquity of the Hindu Calendar, an interactive aid to understanding "The Orion" by Bal
Gangadhar Thilak (http://geogebratube.org/student/m24345) by Kishore S Kumar
"Tilak, Bal Gangadhar" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1922_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/T
ilak,_Bal_Gangadhar). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
Tilak- A forgotten Hero (https://www.sukeindia.com/tilak-a-forgotten-hero/) by Sanket Kalambe
Newspaper clippings about Bal Gangadhar Tilak (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/03718
3) in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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