Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Tilak, who was always adamant about his opinion and views, mellowed down after being released from prison in 1914 due to suffering from diabetes.

He finally breathed his last on August 1, 1920.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born in a Chitpavan Brahmin family as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak on July 23, 1856 in Ratnagiri. His father, a school teacher and a Sanskrit scholar, played an influential role in Tilak’s early life.

Much of his early education was attained at home. Though highly intelligent, he was extremely mischievous and as such abhorred by his teachers.

Since young, he singled out everywhere, due to his independent views and strong opinion. He did not compromise on his opinion for anyone and thus was quite different from other boys of his age.

In 1877, he completed his university studies from Deccan College in Pune, thus becoming one of the few Indians to receive modern college education. He attained a BA degree in mathematics.

Immediately after completing his education, he became a mathematics teacher in a private school in Pune. However, following ideological differences with his colleagues, he took up journalism as profession.

Appalled by the western education system and its demeaning nature of treating Indian students, he decided to put an end to the turmoil by setting up a society that would assist in educating people about Indian culture and national ideals.

Along with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, he founded the Deccan Education Society. The society aimed at teaching young Indians about nationalist ideas by emphasizing on Indian culture. It intended to impart quality education to Indian youth.

In 1885, Deccan Education Society founded the New English School for secondary education and Fergusson College for post-secondary studies. He served as a professor of mathematics in the latter.

Once the Deccan Education Society started educating masses about the Indian culture and nationalist ideas, he initiated two newspapers, namely ‘Kesari’ and ‘Maratha’ that aimed at raising the political consciousness in people. While ‘Kesari’ was published in Marathi, ‘Maratha’ was in English.