Mr. Tilak and Politics

WE have in our leading article had something to say about Mr. Tilak’s unique contribution both to nation-building and to the growth of nationalism as a strong, living and irresistible force. It remains only to add that this contribution is the outcome of a great and powerful mind which would have made its mark and won for its possessor a distinction of the highest order, in whichever of the three or four walks of life for which nature had pre-eminently fitted him he might have chosen to tread. He might have become a great educationist, a great lawyer, a great Oriental scholar, and a great writer on philosophical and ethical subjects, just or almost as easily as he did become a political leader of the first rank. As a matter of fact, he was a combination of all these, though in none of the several spheres, except perhaps as an Oriental scholar, he attained the highest rank. He began as an educationist, and it is to him as well as to some of his colleagues that we owe the existence, first, of the Deccan Education Society and then of the Fergusson College. As a lawyer, he showed remarkable aptitude, and never more clearly than in connection with his second prosecution for sedition, when he defended himself with an ability which won admiration even from his detractors. As an Oriental scholar, his Orion and Arctic Home, which have won worldwide reputation, will forever bear testimony to his high powers. Lastly, his great book on the Gita, which is no mere commentary but an original work, shows that he possessed powers of philosophical analysis and reasoning which, if given proper play and latitude, would have won for him a pre-eminent place in this department of activity. He might, if he had liked, have amassed a fortune. But he cared nothing for fortune. His predominant passion was for the welfare and the freedom of his country.

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