Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak (India in Nineteenth Century)

With the establishment of British colonial rule in the nineteenth century, India was subject to a major transformation and challenge to the nation’s fundamental core beliefs. Prior to the dominance of the British, India was held by oral social and religious conventions and hierarchies. With the influx of the enlightenment, along with the introduction of print media and Western education, there was a shift from these oral traditions and conventions to a focus on the textual. Thus a need for a political body, to represent and question the forming of this Indian society, emerged and the Indian National Congress (INC) was born in 1857. A struggle for freedom was soon ushered in, as the repressive policies of the British Raj aroused intense opposition. Two key contributors in this freedom struggle were Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856 – 1920) and Annie Besant (1847 – 1933). Although they had different beginnings, in opposing countries, there are surprising similarities and influences that led their lives to converge in the fight for Indian freedom. Although they differed with their religious and social beliefs, their need for an independent India united them and often saw them working together for the good of the greater cause.
Annie Besant was born to a middle-class family of Irish origin in London in 1847. A few years after her father died a friend of the family helped her mother by taking the young Annie Besant into her care for education. From the personal account of Besant, what ensued was a joyful childhood with her education accenting the religious side of her character, which was to influence her later career path. In 1866, at the age of nineteen, she unwisely married the clergyman Mr. Frank Besant. Although deeply unhappy in her marriage, as her impulsive independent nature clashed with her husband’s traditional views, they had two children. However, in 1873 their marriage ended and Besant, completely rejecting Christianity, joined the National Secular Society,