Lokmanya Tilak: The First National Leader

By Gayatri Pagdi

Lokmanya Tilak (1856-1920) was the first national leader of the Indian freedom movement who transcended provinces, communities and languages to establish himself in the hearts of millions. Tilak was a fierce advocate of swarajya (self-rule) and his famous words - 'Swarajya is my birthright, and I shall have it!' are well - remembered even today. The adulation he received from his followers earned him the title of 'Lokmanya' - the admired one. This book explores the multi-faceted personality of Bal Gangadhar Tilak - social reformer, scholar and national leader - convincingly portraying a man of the people of his time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper India
• Release date: May 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9789353026967

Gayatri Pagdi

Gayatri Pagdi is a writer, translator and editor. She is a published author in the UK and her writing has been included in the South Asian Literary Review brought out by the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She is based in Mumbai.

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Chapter One

OVERVIEW

Writing about Lokmanya Tilak is at once a humbling and an exalting experience. Humbling because there has been much written about him in several languages over a period of years. Some of it has been absolutely brilliant, also much in depth, and one wonders if one can, in any way, contribute significantly to what is already present. It is also exalting simply because it presents an auspicious opportunity to explore the life of a man who drew the sword and struck the first significantly hard blow in his country’s valorous fight for independence, the fruits of which we reap today. Like a favourite tale, it continues to engage us no matter how many times we have heard it. Like the national anthem, it fills us with pride every single time we listen to it.

The first national leader who transcended provinces, communities, and languages to establish himself in the hearts of millions, Balwantrao Gangadhar Tilak, Gandhi’s predecessor, remained a man of the people. He was not a saint whom one would eventually deify but a warrior-hero and a scholar-philosopher; he was very real and therefore that much closer to us, with a powerful and perfect identity that many probably desired to have in those days. He was a man who lived a life of action with total selflessness and withstood all the sufferings in the course of it. His pursuit of the cause of his land, his duty-sans-desire that performed the function of sustaining the society, saw him as a sthithapradnya, a soul steady-in-reason. As he stood, rock-solid and consistent amidst the ocean of turmoil, waves of public emotions arose to meet him. Identified throughout by the term of people’s love and esteem for him, Lokmanya was the admired one.

Tilak’s life touched millions. Many came into his life as his students, colleagues, followers, fellow patriots, readers, oppressors, opponents, and admirers. Like a crystal prism, when held up to sunlight, his personality displayed a whole spectrum of colours. He seemed different to different people. Whether it was bouquets or brickbats, prejudice or grudging admiration for this extraordinary man, all of it seemed to come to him with equal force. Whatever emotions he aroused, it was impossible to ignore him. Through the words written on him and the descriptions of his interaction with many in the course of his political, social, educational, and philosophical activity, a lot is revealed about what Lokmanya Tilak meant to the lives of people. This work is a small attempt at exploring Tilak’s life through the eyes of the people. It is about the man of the people and the people of his times.

It would not be presumptuous to think that a lot is known of his life already. However, for the sake of ease when we later explore the different facets of his life vis a vis different sections of people, it would help if we followed an outline of his life course.

Lokmanya Tilak was born in Ratnagiri on 23 July 1856. His father, Gangadhar Ramchandra Tilak, was a man of academic mind with a respect for knowledge and learning. Earlier an assistant teacher in Ratnagiri, he then became the deputy educational inspector in Thane and Pune. Lokmanya inherited from his father a love for teaching and a mathematical genius. At ease with languages and Sanskrit poetry as also with complex mathematical problems, young Tilak was a student noticed for his brilliance. Tilak’s father, conscientious and sincere in his work, fell ill when he insisted on completing the inspection of a hundred schools while his health was already not at its best. By 1872, he was bedridden. His wife had already passed on and he could foresee that he didn’t have much time left. He wanted his son to have someone to call his own. According to the tradition then prevalent, Tilak was of a marriageable age. In 1872, Tilak was married to Tapi, who belonged to the very respected Bal family of the Dapoli district in Konkan. She was a healthy girl of nine; the groom was all of sixteen. After marriage, Tapi was renamed as Satyabhama.

The bride and the groom being still very young, Tilak was often said to receive gifts like spinning tops, balls, viti-dandu (tip-cat) sets, chess board sets, pens, and pen stands from his in-laws. His father, in turn, sent the child-bride gifts of numerous dolls and toy kitchen sets. Once Tilak insisted that he did not wish to have toys anymore. He would rather have books. He had no particular interest in the toys and realised how useless they were to him. But more than that was the incessant thirst for knowledge which could only be satisfied through books. Needless to say, his wish was fulfilled.

His father’s condition deteriorated further and things now looked bleak. Tilak later wrote in the introduction to the Geeta Rahasya that as a son who was around his ill father, he was asked to read out the Prakrit critique of the Bhagvad Geeta called Bhashavivruti to his father every day.

The father, ever so careful regarding the future of his son, had made financial arrangements for him to be able to complete his education without trouble. He wanted his son to complete his graduation and hoped that he would do so with the help of a scholarship. However, in case that was not possible, he had left five thousand rupees for Tilak for his education to go on smoothly.

After Tilak’s father passed away he was looked after by his uncle and aunt, both of whom loved him like their own son. In the absence of his father, Tilak, though a part of a warm family, grew more and more emotionally independent.

After passing the entrance examination, Tilak joined the Deccan College in Pune. For the first six months he walked to the college daily. He also had to cross a river on the way and a boat ride with his friends was a part of his commuting. As a boy he wasn’t well built. Later, Tilak’s eldest son-in-law, Vishwanath Gangadhar Ketkar, revealed that often Tilak’s friends teased him because he looked very slight in comparison to his wife. Tilak decided to do something about it and spent an entire year concentrating on building a good body at the cost of his studies. He soon became an expert in wrestling, malkhamb, and other traditional athletic sports. He was also fond of swimming and swam every time he got an opportunity to. He found rowing of boats interesting and was good at it. However, he had no interest in cricket or tennis. He believed that it was a snobbish way of digesting your food in the open air, not a real means to have a good body.

The exercises did him good. His diet improved and the man who otherwise ate only a bit of rice and milk was suddenly opting for eight to ten rotis at a time, along with vegetables, pulses, and other healthy food. Soon he was a very strong young man who often wandered bare-chested in his room with just a wrap around himself during the most severe winter. He was never known to suffer from any illness, not even minor ones. He believed firmly that one could sometimes skip studies or other such mental activity but physical exercises were a must every single day.

With an improvement in his physical health, his mind brightened even further and Tilak now attacked his studies with equal aggression. He believed in going down to the root of every topic and understanding it thoroughly instead of allowing himself a superficial understanding which would fetch him good grades. He read a lot, often books outside the curriculum, which helped him understand his studies better. He was also very particular about handling his books carefully and some of his notebooks were found to be in excellent condition even after a quarter of a century.¹

Tilak graduated with honours in 1876 and then took to the study of law to obtain his LL.B. degree in 1879. Here too, instead of merely referring to the books essential for the study of Indian law, Tilak also read the Manusmriti, Mitakshara Teeka, Vyavahar Mayukh and other such literature in the original Sanskrit which was related to the Indian legal system, analysed it, and discussed it for hours together with his friends.

It was during this period that Tilak met Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, a kindred spirit, who played a significant role in the building of modern Maharashtra. As students, they watched the abysmal ignorance around them in society and its pathetic consequences. It prompted the idealistic young men to start thinking of ways of serving the people. Both men, with their passion for knowledge, naturally decided to take the first step towards serving society in terms of education. They started earnestly on the path of establishing an institution that would be cheap, effective, and accessible to all. Vishnu Krishna Chiplunkar, better known as Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, a writer of some repute, got interested too. Two more men, M. B. Namjoshi and V. S. Apte, joined them, filled with the same enthusiasm. The New English School at Poona was started with the object of facilitating affordable education which is the most efficient and peaceful means of bringing about the intellectual, moral and physical regeneration of the country.² This was a revolutionary step because until then the government institutions and Christian missionaries were the only agencies involved in educating the masses. The government discouraged private enterprise in education. Naturally, the existing education system did not generate future leadership for a self-governing nation. The group set up their school hoping it would rouse the intellect, the drooping will and the slumbering conscience of Indian society.

The venture however was financially uncertain and salaries had to be kept very low. To overcome this Namjoshi suggested that his newspaper, the Deccan Star, be taken over by the school. Along with that they could start a Marathi language newspaper as well. The newspapers would play an educative role and could also be used to generate profits to keep the school running. Early 1881 saw Chiplunkar, Tilak, Agarkar, Namjoshi, and Apte working as a group with the New English School as also bringing out the new version of Deccan Star called Mahratta. The Marathi newspaper started at the same time was called Kesari. The newspapers were printed in the Arya Bhushan Press that was owned by Chiplunkar. The writings of the editors were unflinching and bold, and ruffled a few feathers. Soon they received a taste of what this would mean. The papers, in 1882, took up cudgels against the Karbhari of the state of Kolhapur who was supposed to be in charge of the young Maharaja, His Highness Shivaji Rao. The officer was said to oppress the young man in his charge. The newspapers conveyed the news to the readers. The Karbhari pressed charges of defamation. Chiplunkar passed away in the course of the trial, and Tilak and Agarkar were sentenced to simple imprisonment for four months on 17 July. Agarkar wrote later that while in jail they discussed, among other things, how to avoid the repetition of the situation in the future and if they could not avoid it, the kind of causes for which they would risk it. Both Tilak and Agarkar were released on 26 October and went back to their work.

The school was doing well and its success prompted the group to form the Deccan Education Society in 1884. The men at the helm now wished to have a college and the Fergusson College came into being soon after. The staff was strengthened as more idealistic men joined the faculty. Tilak took it upon himself to teach Mathematics, Science, and Sanskrit. However, after about five years, in view of government grants, the society had to be separated from the newspapers. There were arguments on matters related to the duties of the teachers in the college. This saw a very serious disagreement within the friends. Tilak believed that the life-members should confine their activities to their work as teachers and not distract themselves by other activities. He was opposed and consequently, he resigned.³

On the newspapers front, Tilak and Agarkar’s differing outlooks on social reforms and political emancipation began to cause a schism between them. Gradually the arguments turned bitter and soon a time came when Agarkar wrote articles in the Kesari advocating social reforms before political emancipation and Tilak urged people to do just the contrary in the same week in the Mahratta. In 1888, Agarkar gave up his connection with Kesari and the papers were now owned by Tilak, N. C. Kelkar, and H. N. Gokhale. Tilak now became the sole editor of both the papers. Later, there was a further change and Tilak became the proprietor of both the papers while Kelkar and Gokhale retained the Arya Bhushan Press. Agarkar went on to set up the newspaper Sudharak. Through both the Kesari and Sudharak neither Tilak nor Agarkar ever lost an opportunity to challenge and criticise each other’s opinions.

Tilak took a leading part in the controversy that arose out of the government’s decision regarding the Age of Consent Bill. It sought to increase the age of consent from ten to twelve for young girls. Tilak’s opposition to the bill was not any real conflict of principle but due to his firm conviction that the autonomy of the Hindu society should not be disturbed by a government regulation; it should come about by spontaneous movement from within the society. Agarkar’s article in the Sudharak expresses how Tilak himself had believed firmly in certain modifications in the existing norms. Agarkar’s article, directed at the orthodox elements in the society and titled He Tumche Pudhari Navhet (This is not your leader) mentions how personally Tilak believed that girls should not be married before the age of sixteen and that the age for boys should be at least twenty. He was against the practice of dowry, believed strongly against the practice of shaving the heads of widows, advocated that if men married after forty they should marry only widows, etc. Agarkar tried to show how Tilak, in his heart, genuinely believed in social reforms. He added that despite their ideological differences, he had to admit that if Tilak believed in some cause he would not go back on it no matter what the consequences. Tilak, on his part, had his own compulsions for not openly supporting progressive ideas: the orthodox minds, who were a majority, would go against him. That, he felt, would prove to be a hurdle in his quest for eventual political emancipation for the country.

Meanwhile, as a sequel to the Age of Consent controversy, came another episode that exhibited the extent of social tension in a particular section of the Maharashtrian society. On 14 October 1890, Gopalrao Joshi, a postmaster by profession and a man with a strange sense of humour who enjoyed attacking and ridiculing public figures, organised an event of speeches at the Panch Haud Mission School in Poona. It was an American Missionary Centre. All the well-known people of the city attended the event. The group included Prarthana Samajists, orthodox leaders, and other social reformers. Present were M. G. Ranade, G. V. Kanitkar, C. N. Bhat, Tilak, G. K. Gokhale and V. K. Rajwade. The sisters of the mission served them tea and biscuits. Many of the invitees felt awkward or reluctant to partake of the refreshments but propriety prevented them from refusing. Some amongst the group stuck to tea and some merely accepted but did not consume anything.

A few days after the Age of Consent Bill was passed, Joshi published the report of the event in Pune Vaibhav, complete with the names of those who had tea with the missionaries. He also alleged that the reformers had gone to the mission to deliberately break the rigidity of the caste distinctions as also to trample upon Hinduism by getting together with the Christian missionaries. Joshi wanted to ridicule the orthodox as well as those who called themselves social reformers. If the orthodoxy did not take any objection, it would expose their threats of ex-communication of other such groups as hollow. The social reformers, on the other hand, would be exposed due to their hypocrisy and then an apology could be demanded of them.

The opponents of social reform seized this opportunity to settle scores with the social reformers and the event was blown out of proportion. The orthodox hardliners clamoured for their punishment hoping to humiliate the reformers and to ridicule their cause. They even threatened to declare all those who attended as outcastes. The reformers hated this and the matter had to be presented before an ecclesiastical authority like the Shankaracharya. Two well-known and respected shastris appointed by the Shankaracharya formed a committee to look into this issue. The discussions went on for six months. Finally, forty-two people were identified as tea drinkers. Sixteen of them did not accept the Shankaracharya’s authority to pass judgement over them and kept away. Gokhale was said to be amongst them. Some wished to defy this tribunal but could not due to social pressure. The issue brought both Tilak and Ranade before the religious authorities. Tilak, who always believed that the reforms should come from within, welcomed the Shankaracharya’s involvement in the entire event but was outraged that the orthodox hardliners were doing this out of malice. He decided to obey the dictates of the shastras on his own and performed a prayashchitta.

Though the case aroused a lot of interest, Tilak did not take the threats or the possibility of repercussions too seriously. During the debates in the presence of the two shastris, Tilak defended himself in his usual engaging style and evoked a lot of response from the onlookers. He said, No one becomes a Christian simply by wearing a pagdi instead of a turban or drinking water from a china cup instead of a brass one. He was however affected by it on the domestic front. That year he did not find a Brahmin priest who would perform the puja in his house and he had to perform it himself. His eldest daughter was engaged to be married and following tradition, he wanted to go to the temple to place the first wedding invitation before Lord Ganesh. However, he could not enter the temple and had to send someone else to do it. His family worried that the episode would prove to be a hurdle during the wedding. Fortunately, it did not and the furore caused by the episode gradually receded.

While engaged in his public work, Tilak also remained busy teaching at his law classes, the first in the Bombay Presidency to equip young men for law examinations. The newspapers did not fetch much money, in fact they were often in a fix due to lack of adequate finances. The classes helped him to earn some money. The monthly fees were four rupees per student. Even though Tilak had decided that he would not admit anyone without fees, he did break this rule for those students who were bright and sincere but could not afford to pay. His lectures on Hindu law were said to be extraordinarily good and he also managed to simplify complex topics like Contract and Equity. At times, young lawyers from the city too came in to listen to his lectures. Mahadev Govind Ranade, before being appointed to the High Court, was one such lawyer who went back full of admiration for Tilak’s knowledge of the law.

Tilak also used his profound knowledge of Sanskrit and mathematics to research certain astronomical references in the Vedas and was able to prove from these their hoary age. A scholar of antiquity, he contributed papers to the International Congress of Orientals held in London in 1892 which was subsequently published as The Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas. The work attracted the attention of European scholars like Max Muller, Dr. Whitney and Weber. Tilak held detailed written discussions with them and Dr. Whitney conferred the highest praise on him in the Journal of the American Oriental Society. Tilak also earned sincere admiration from another scholar, Dr. Bloomfield, from the Johns Hopkins University.

The work undertaken by Tilak was not simply to satisfy his own antiquarian curiosity. Despite the fact that India could claim a civilisation that was thousands of years old, the western scholars doubted it. Tilak’s objective in undertaking this research was twofold. If factual data to accurately establish the age of Indian civilisation could be collated, it would add to the existing knowledge about India and rectify misconceptions about it. He proved ably that the hymns of the Rig Ved were composed before 4000 BC.

Soon thereafter, Tilak found himself in the midst of a high-profile public event, the prosecution of his friend Rao Saheb W. S. Bapat, an officer in the Settlement Department of the State of Baroda. Bapat was accused of corruption. The case arose out of a conspiracy against the department. It was timed in such a way that the Maharaja of Baroda was out of the country when it all started. The Maharaja’s enemies expected to cause some damage to him and to his administration through Bapat. Matters soon came to a head. Bapat was being made a scapegoat. When Tilak realised that his friend was innocent, he threw himself into the case to defend him. Along with M. C. Apte and D. A. Khare, Tilak fought the case so successfully that his contemporaries believed that under different conditions he would have been elevated to the bench of the High Court. His cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution and his masterly arguments for the defence stood out as a monument to his legal acumen.

The incident brought Tilak to the forefront. He was now associated with the Indian National Congress and was elected as the secretary of the Deccan Standing Committee of the Congress. He organised the first five sessions of the Bombay Provincial Conference. The last one, held in Poona under the presidency of Pherozeshah Mehta, was a huge success. Tilak was twice elected to the Bombay Legislative Council and was also a Fellow of the Bombay University. He was the Municipal Councillor of Poona and returned as the Member of the Municipality in 1895. He was also chosen as one of the City Fathers of Poona by the largest number of votes.

Tilak was elected secretary of the Poona Congress, the eleventh national Congress session. But there were party differences among the Congressmen of Poona about the propriety of holding the sessions of the Social Conference in the Congress pandal, and Tilak retired from the work. However, he continued to be associated with the Congress, spoke at