Bal Gangadhar Tilak is considered as Father of Indian National Movement.

He was a multifaceted personality. He was a social reformer, freedom fighter, national leader, and a scholar of Indian history, Sanskrit, Hinduism, Mathematics and Astronomy.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was popularly called as Lokmanya (Beloved of the people). During freedom struggle, his slogan “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it” inspired millions of Indians.

Tilak in his paper Kesari defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or Self-rule. The Government swiftly arrested him for sedition.

British judge convicted him and he was imprisoned from 1908 to 1914 in Burma in the Mandalay prison.

While imprisoned, he continued to read and write, further developing his ideas on the Indian Nationalist movement.

While in the prison he wrote the famous “Gita Rahasya”. A large number of copies were sold and the money raised was donated for the freedom fighting.