: नारायण वामन टिळक) (6 December 1861 – 1919) was a Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 poet from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Tilak was born on 1861 in a Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 family in the village of Karajhgaon in Ratnagiri District

Ratnagiri District

Ratnagiri district is one of the 35 districts of Maharashtra state in western India. Ratnagiri is the district headquarters of the district. The district is 11.33% urban. The district is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, Sindhudurg district to the south, Raigad district to the north and...

 of Maharashtra.

During 1869–1873, he studied in the town of Kalyan near Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, and studied primarily Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 literature during the next four years in the town of Nashik. After learning English and other school subjects during 1877–1889, he terminated his studies, undertaking a modest job as a teacher to support himself and his bride, Manakaranika Gokhale (मनकर्णिका गोखले), to whom his marriage was arranged in 1880 by his family in accord with the social custom of his times.

Lakshmibai Tilak

Lakshmibai Tilak

Lakshmibai Tilak was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.Lakshmibai was born in 1869 .According to the social custom of her times, after her receiving limited formal education, she was married off by her parents at her age 11 to one Narayan Waman Tilak.Narayan Waman Tilak was an accomplished...

 was the married name of Tilak's wife. Laxmibai had no formal schooling; however, through Tilak's encouragement, she learned to read and write Marathi, mastering the language to the extent of later writing her autobiography, Smruti Chitre (स्मृतिचित्रे), which turned out to be an autobiographical masterpiece in Marathi.

Tilak undertook a variety of modest jobs in different towns in Maharashtra at different times in his life, including the job of a teacher, a Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 priest, and a printing press compositor.

In 1891, he got a job in Nagpur

Nagpur

Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

 as a translator of Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 literature. (He himself wrote some poems in Sanskrit in the following years.) Under the patronage of one Appasaheb Buti, he edited for a while a Marathi magazine named Rushi (ऋषि), which was aimed at discussions of Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 religious matters.

In 1893, Tilak was once traveling by train from Nagpur to Rajanandgaon Sansthan --which was a princely state in the Central Province of India in those times—in search of a new job. During the travel, he met a Christian missionary (Ernest Ward, Free Methodist Church

Free Methodist Church

The Free Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement. It is evangelical in nature and has its roots in the Arminian-Wesleyan tradition....

), who glowingly talked of his religion to Tilak, presented a copy of the Bible to Tilak, and whispered a "prophesy" in Tilak's ears that Tilak “would come under of grace of Savior Jesus in less than two years.”

Subsequently, Tilak, who already had in his mind some unsympathetic thoughts concerning the emphasis on “rituals" and the role of castes in traditional Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

, read the Bible, and felt attracted toward Christianity to the extent that he relinquished Hinduism and formally accepted Christianity in
February 1895. He did so without informing his wife, who had at that time strong faith in Hinduism. The religious difference resulted in the separation of the couple for some time. During the time of separation, Laxmibai studied Christianity, felt drawn to it, accepted Christianity in 1900, and the couple resumed their matrimony with much mutual love.

After accepting Christianity, Tilak mostly lived in the town of Ahmadnagar

Ahmadnagar

Ahmadnagar is located in Gujranwala DistricTt, Punjab, Pakistan.-References:...

 and served the church as a preacher for about 24 years, until his death in 1919. (He had moved to Satara

Satara

Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the the historical cities of...

two years before his death.)

Tilak composed over a hundred Christian devotional songs in Marathi in either abhanga (अभंग) or ovi (ओवी) form. They were published in a book titled “Abhanganjali" (अभंगांजली). He also commenced in 1909 composition of epical Khristayan (ख्रिस्तायन). He composed 10 chapters of it and left it uncompleted at the time of his death; Laxmibai subsequently completed it by adding 64 chapters of her own.

Besides the initial parts of Khristayan (ख्रिस्तायन), Tilak wrote many long poems comprising several hundred lines, each. His over 2,100 poems include:

• Khristayan (ख्रिस्तायन)
• Wanawasi Phool (वनवासी फुल)
• Sushila (सुशीला)
• Majhi Bharya (माझी भार्या)
• Bapache Ashru (बापाचे अश्रू)
• Parwatarohan (पर्वतारोहण)
• Srushtichi Bhaubij (सृष्टीची भाऊबीज)
• Pure Janato Micha Majhe Bala (पुरे जाणतो मीच माझे बळ)
• Ranashing (रणशिंग)
• Majhya Janambhumiche Nav (माझ्या जन्मभूमीचे नाव)
• Priyakar Hindistan (प्रियकर हिंदीस्तान)
• Lekarachi Jidnyasa (लेकराची जिज्ञासा)
• Kawichi Winawani (कवीची विनवणी)
• Kawi (कवि)
• Kevdhe He Krourya (केव्हडे हे क्रौर्य)