Bal Gangadhar Tilak 163rd Birth Anniversary: Bal Gangadhar Tilak popularly known as Lokmanya Tilak was considered as one of the first leaders of India’s freedom struggle. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first and the strongest advocates of self-rule. He was born on July 23, 1856, as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak in a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family in Ratnagiri. Bal Gangadhar Tilak he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in first class in Mathematics from Deccan College of Pune in 1877 and in 1879 he cleared his LLB.