Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/122

 rally to his banner and forget their own ancient forgetfulness of duty. The process has just begun and it is yet to spread and complete. It therefore seems opportune that the world should be better acquainted with the life history of that great soul known to the world under the name of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Mr. Tilak's ancestry has in itself the seeds of his personal greatness. His fore-fathers distinguished themselves in the History of Maharashtra. From them he has inherited that attachment to the land of his birth which is at the bottom of all his enthusiasm for work. Mr. Tilak's father Gangadhar Ramachandra Tilak was in himself a great scholar and a great educationist. He was first an assistant teacher at Ratnagiri and later rose to the position of a Deputy-Inspector. While he was at Ratnagiri Mr. Tilak was born on the 23rd of July 1856. Young Balwant Rau must have been early influenced by his father and he must have taken after him in the matter of mathematical capacity and the burning desire to teach what he knew to the world. While yet the young lad was dreaming the happy dreams of boyhood Mr. Gangadhar Ramachandra Tilak left him to