reform that had attracted many intellectuals in the Poona re-
gion and elsewhere. Many reformers believed, however, in
working with the British to bring about gradual political
change and in seeking to reform deeply embedded social
practices that seemed to have Hindu religious sanction. Tilak
did not condone such practices but insisted that freedom
from British rule was the first priority, not social or religious
reform.
Sometimes Tilak supported, but he also opposed, the
Indian National Congress, the organization founded in 1885
that became the chief agent in winning Indian indepen-
dence. Two characteristics often alienated him from other
nationalist leaders: one was his use of Hindu religious sym-
bols as expressions of Indian nationalism, and the other was
his acceptance of violence as a legitimate political tool sanc-
tioned by the Hindu tradition.
In two of Tilak’s books, Orion (1893) and The Arctic
Home of the Vedas (1903), he argued that the mythic Hindu
stories could be interpreted as actual history, thus giving In-
dians pride in the antiquity of their nationalist narrative. In
G ̄ıta ̄ Rahasya (1915), a commentary on the Bhagavadg ̄ıta ̄,
written while he was imprisoned for sedition, Tilak argued
that it was not, as many commentators had interpreted it,
a text that encouraged passive devotion to a deity, but, on
the contrary, it was a revolutionary call to use violence
against oppression. Mahatma Gandhi was later to argue,
with Tilak in mind, that the message of the Bhagavadg ̄ıta ̄ was
one of nonviolence and love of one’s enemies.
Tilak’s appeal to the Hindu tradition as a basis for a re-
newal of Indian greatness and opposition to the British was
dramatized in numerous initiatives. One of these was starting
festivals to celebrate S ́iva ̄j ̄ı (1621–1680), the great warrior
who fought the Mughal emperors, defending Hinduism
against the invading Muslims. The implication of the mes-
sage was not lost on either the Muslim minorities or the Brit-
ish rulers. More directly identified with Hinduism were festi-
vals supported by Tilak in honor of the popular deity
Gan:apati, or Gan:e ́sa. These had been in existence as family
or local celebrations, but Tilak saw them as a chance for
widespread group support for the project for political free-
dom, for Gan:apati is the god of new beginnings, a help in
overcoming obstacles, and the son of S ́iva, the most powerful
and potent of the great gods, often pictured as a warrior smit-
ing his enemies. Tilak also joined in the campaign against
cow slaughter, arguing that Hindus venerated the cow as a
religious symbol. Since Muslims and the British were beef
eaters, the campaign had a potent social and political
message.
Some of the causes that Tilak supported in the name of
Hindu cultural nationalism seemed, not only to the British
but also to other Indian intellectuals, reactionary. One was
his denunciation of the government when, in 1890, it intro-
duced legislation to raise the permissible age of marriage for
girls from ten to twelve. Orthodox Muslim leaders, as well
as Hindus, argued that the government was interfering with
a practice sanctioned by religion. Then, in 1897, there was
an outbreak of bubonic plague in Poona, and the govern-
ment ordered a house-to-house search under a military offi-
cer, W. C. Rand, which Tilak said violated the sanctity of
the Hindu home; he also argued that, following the example
of S ́iva ̄j ̄ı, violence was justified to protest it. When Rand was
assassinated, Tilak was charged with incitement to murder
because of his writings, and he was sentenced to eighteen
months in prison.
Such activities made Tilak the leading figure in the
group within the Indian National Congress that he proudly
called the “Extremists,” in contrast to the “Moderates,”
whom he denounced for begging favors from their British
overlords when they should be taking by force what was
rightfully theirs. He popularized the slogan, “Swara ̄j [self-
rule] is my birthright and I will have it.” In 1907 he and his
group tried to gain control of the annual meeting of the Indi-
an National Congress in Surat, but failed, leading to a split
in the organization. In 1908 Tilak was arrested on charges
of incitement to violence and sentenced to six years of im-
prisonment in the unhealthy Andaman Islands, but he sur-
vived the ordeal and in 1916 he rejoined the Congress.
At this time, Gandhi arrived on the Indian political
scene with a message of nonviolence that rejected Tilak’s
reading of the Bhagavadg ̄ıta ̄. Tilak’s death in August 1920,
just before the Indian National Congress adopted Gandhi’s
platform of nonviolence, prevented Tilak from questioning
the new direction that the nationalist movement was taking.
Gandhi’s success in subsequent years in persuading Indian
nationalists to accept his version of Hinduism as a religion
of nonviolence and love overshadowed for many years Tilak’s
insistence that Hinduism could be the basis for a militant na-
tionalism that would fight to win India’s independence. At
the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, Tilak’s
version of militant Hinduism, not Gandhi’s pacifism, was
dominant in India’s political life.SEE ALSO Bhagavadg ̄ıta ̄; Brahman; Gandhi, Mohandas;
Gan:e ́sa; Marathi Religions.BIBLIOGRAPHY
There is no good biography that comprehensively examines
Tilak’s personal life, political activities, and religious views,
and assesses his role in the nationalist narrative. Richard I.
Cashman, The Myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and Mass Poli-
tics in Maharashtra (Berkeley, 1975), is a scholarly study of
aspects of his political activities. Stanley A. Wolpert, Tilak
and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern
India (Berkeley, 1962), contrasts his positions with those of
his great liberal contemporary and rival, G. K. Gokhale.
D. V. Tahmankar, Lokamanya Tilak: Father of Indian Unrest
and Maker of Modern India (London, 1956), is an authorized
biography but gives a fuller picture of Tilak’s life and times.
G. P. Pradhan, Lokamanya Tilak (New Delhi, 1994), is in-
tended to show Tilak as a great patriot and thinker. Examples
of Tilak’s combination of religious and political thought can
be found in B. G. Tilak, Tilak: His Writings and SpeechesTILAK, BAL GANGADHAR 9199