Bal Gangadhar Tilak ( pronunciation (help info)), born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (23 July 1856

1 August 1920), was an Indian nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and an
independence activist. He was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British
colonial authorities called him "Father of the Indian unrest." He was also conferred with the honorary title
of "Lokmanya", which literally means "Accepted by the people (as their leader)".
[1]

Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of "Swaraj" (self-rule) and a strong radical in Indian
consciousness. His famous quote, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" is well-remembered in
India even today. He also formed a close alliance with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, later the founder of
Pakistan, during the Indian Home rule movement.
Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindustani: [darlal neru] ( listen); 14 November 1889 27 May 1964)
was the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics for much of the 20th century.
He emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian Independence Movement under the tutelage of
Mahatma Gandhi and ruled India from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his
death in office in 1964.
[5]
Nehru is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state; a
sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic.
[6]
He was the father of Indira Gandhi and the
maternal grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, who served as the third and sixth Prime Ministers of India,
respectively.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (pronounced [mondas krmtnd andi] ( listen); 2 October
1869 30 January 1948) was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India.
Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for
civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma (Sanskrit: "high-souled",
"venerable"
[2]
)applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa,
[3]
is now used worldwide. He is also called
Bapu (Gujarati: endearment for "father",
[4]
"papa"
[4][5]
) in India.
Born and raised in a Hindu, merchant caste, family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at
the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in
South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915,
he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and
discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide
campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending
untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.
Rabindranath Tagore
[]
pronunciation (help info) [rbindrnt tr], also written Ravndrantha
Thkura [rvindrnt tkr],
[2]
(Bengali: ) (7 May 1861 7 August 1941),
[]
sobriquet
Gurudev,
[]
was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali
and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse",
[3]
he became the first non-European to win the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
[4]
In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial;
however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.
[5]
Tagore
introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby
freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the
best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative
artist of modern South Asia.
[6][7][8]

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ([bimraw ramdi ambekr]; 14 April 1891 6 December 1956),
popularly also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, politician, philosopher, anthropologist, historian
and economist. A revivalist for Buddhism in India, he inspired the Modern Buddhist movement. As
independent India's first law minister, he was principal architect of the Constitution of India.
Born into a poor Mahar family, Ambedkar campaigned against social discrimination, the Indian caste
system. He converted to Buddhism and is also credited with providing a spark for the conversion of
hundreds of thousands of lower caste members to Buddhism. Ambedkar was posthumously awarded the
Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1990.
[3]
Eventually earning a law degree and doctorates for
his study and research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London
School of Economics, Ambedkar gained a reputation as a scholar and practised law for a few years, later
campaigning by publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's
untouchables.