Lokmanya Shri Bal Gangadhar Tilak :- “Father of Swarajya"
Political Goals of Shri Bal Gangadhar Tilak :-
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was not an idealist thinker like Plato, Hegel, Rousseau or Green. He never thought of any ideal State. His main aim was the political emancipation of India. He was realistic in his political thought. He was a Vedantist and believed in metaphysical assumptions. He considered spirit as the supreme reality. Since all men are portions of that absolute being, all have the same autonomous spiritual potentiality. This led him to believe in supremacy of the concept of freedom.
The concept of freedom is central to Tilak’s political ideas. He was of the view that metaphysics of Vedanta resulted in the political conception of natural rights. The spirit is the only reality, man is soul not body. His aim was the political emancipation of India. He was realistic in his political thought. The western theories of national independence and self determination had a great influence upon Tilak's mind. The following are the main political goals of Tilak.
1. Revival of the glorious past:
Tilak was a revivalist in the sense that he wanted to revive all that was good and noble in India's past culture and civilization. He never wanted to have a complete break with the past. Tilak criticized and repudiated the blind imitation of the West by the Indian moderates. Therefore, he organized the Ganesh Puja and Shivaji Jayanti.
He knew that the people liked festivals and participated in them enthusiastically. It was his earnest desire to give a constructive orientation to the Ganapati festival and create a social platform for educating the people. Simultaneously Tilak also organised the Shivaji festival in Maharastra. In 1895, he started the movement for restoration of Shivaji's samadhi at the Raigad fort-the fort where Shivaji was crowned as the king. It was at Tilak's instance that the first Shivaji festival was celebrated at the Raigad fort on 15th April 1896. Regarding the
celebration of Shivaji festival, Tilak observed
"We should be ever grateful to those heroes who upheld the honour and dignity of our nation. Shivaji was our national hero, who established Swarajya and liberated the people. The celebration of Shivaji festival is an occasion for expressing our gratitude to him. If we cherish the memories of our national heroes, we can promote in ourselves a nationalist attitude. For promoting the sense of nationality, it is necessary to have national heroes whom people can worship as idols."
Tilak also studied the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharat and the Shrimad Bhagwat Gita and preached the noble ideas among the ignorant Indian mass. For sake of national unity and to drive out the Britishers from India, he established various associations. But this does not mean that he was a narrow minded person. He appreciated the introduction of English education in India. He studied the works of we stem thinkers like Hegel, Kant, Spencer, Mill, Bentham, etc. In fact Tilak was not against westernization but against those who wanted to remake India in the image of the West and had the one sided and dogmatic attitude.
2. Patriotism :
Among the Indian leaders, Tilak was a lover of motherland of first order. He had immense love for the country. Throughout his life, he made all sorts of efforts and sacrifice for the prosperity of the country. From his very childhood, he inherited love for his own country. He wanted to make India prosperous and strong country in the world. He, therefore, organised several festivals to inculcate patriotism among the people of India. He had deep and immense faith in Indian culture, religion, art and-tradition. He further compared our nation with God. To quote Tilak, "God and our country are not different. In short, our country is one form of God. The love of nation like love of God has to transcend narrow provincialism and communalism. "
3. Swaraj or Self-rule:
The political goal of Tilak was to attain Swaraj or self-government for the people of India. He said that the idea of Swaraj is an old one. For the individual Swaraj means the exercise of his lawful freedom; the individual cannot live in his true nature without complete Swaraj.
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Value addition
Concept of swaraj
Swaraj is my birthright and I will have it.
The word Swaraj is an old Vedic term. Tilak lent it from the Shastras and the life of the great Shivaji.
Literally, Swaraj means swa(self) raj (rule/government).
Tilak practised swaraj as not merely a right, but as a Dharma. He also presented political, moral and spiritual meanings of Swaraj.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was not an idealist thinker like Plato, Hegel, Rousseau or Green. He never thought of any ideal State. His main aim was the political emancipation of India. He was realistic in his political thought. He was a Vedantist and believed in metaphysical assumptions. He considered spirit as the supreme reality. Since all men are portions of that absolute being, all have the same autonomous spiritual potentiality. This led him to believe in supremacy of the concept of freedom.
The concept of freedom is central to Tilak’s political ideas. He was of the view that metaphysics of Vedanta resulted in the political conception of natural rights. The spirit is the only reality, man is soul not body. His aim was the political emancipation of India. He was realistic in his political thought. The western theories of national independence and self determination had a great influence upon Tilak's mind. The following are the main political goals of Tilak.
1. Revival of the glorious past:
Tilak was a revivalist in the sense that he wanted to revive all that was good and noble in India's past culture and civilization. He never wanted to have a complete break with the past. Tilak criticized and repudiated the blind imitation of the West by the Indian moderates. Therefore, he organized the Ganesh Puja and Shivaji Jayanti.
celebration of Shivaji festival, Tilak observed
"We should be ever grateful to those heroes who upheld the honour and dignity of our nation. Shivaji was our national hero, who established Swarajya and liberated the people. The celebration of Shivaji festival is an occasion for expressing our gratitude to him. If we cherish the memories of our national heroes, we can promote in ourselves a nationalist attitude. For promoting the sense of nationality, it is necessary to have national heroes whom people can worship as idols."
Tilak also studied the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharat and the Shrimad Bhagwat Gita and preached the noble ideas among the ignorant Indian mass. For sake of national unity and to drive out the Britishers from India, he established various associations. But this does not mean that he was a narrow minded person. He appreciated the introduction of English education in India. He studied the works of we stem thinkers like Hegel, Kant, Spencer, Mill, Bentham, etc. In fact Tilak was not against westernization but against those who wanted to remake India in the image of the West and had the one sided and dogmatic attitude.
2. Patriotism :
Among the Indian leaders, Tilak was a lover of motherland of first order. He had immense love for the country. Throughout his life, he made all sorts of efforts and sacrifice for the prosperity of the country. From his very childhood, he inherited love for his own country. He wanted to make India prosperous and strong country in the world. He, therefore, organised several festivals to inculcate patriotism among the people of India. He had deep and immense faith in Indian culture, religion, art and-tradition. He further compared our nation with God. To quote Tilak, "God and our country are not different. In short, our country is one form of God. The love of nation like love of God has to transcend narrow provincialism and communalism. "
The political goal of Tilak was to attain Swaraj or self-government for the people of India. He said that the idea of Swaraj is an old one. For the individual Swaraj means the exercise of his lawful freedom; the individual cannot live in his true nature without complete Swaraj.
.jpeg)
Value addition
Concept of swaraj
Swaraj is my birthright and I will have it.
The word Swaraj is an old Vedic term. Tilak lent it from the Shastras and the life of the great Shivaji.
Literally, Swaraj means swa(self) raj (rule/government).
Tilak practised swaraj as not merely a right, but as a Dharma. He also presented political, moral and spiritual meanings of Swaraj.
Further Tilak gave the following four views of Swaraj :
(i) firstly, Swaraj meant that the ruler and the ruled must belong to one group and one nation.
(ii) Secondly, Swaraj referred to as rule of law. The State should be governed by law.
(iii) Thirdly, government must be elected by the people and must be responsible to them.
(iv) Lastly, Swaraj means the State should be established for the overall development of the individuals.
Tilak was the most significant and dominant political personality of the early years of the 20th century who gave to the, people of India the first lesson in form of the consciousness of the right of Swaraj or self-rule. He defined Swaraj as 'people's rule instead of that of bureaucracy is Swaraj." To Tilak, Swaraj meant Home Rule or self-government for right, I will have it." He again said, "We demand Swaraj, as it is the foundation and not the height of our prosperity."
According to Tilak, Swaraj was not only a right but also a dharma or religion. He was of the opinion that self-rule under Dharmarajya either existed fully or did not exist at all. He, therefore, wanted complete Swaraj. He started Home Rule League in 1916 in order to push forward his ideal of Swaraj. He thought of a federal type of political structure under Swaraj. Tilak thus rightly said that "no nation can be strong and healthy unless it is free."
Santoshkumar B Pandey at 5.15pm.
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