Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay was an enigma. He was born in 1838 and had an English education. He served 30 years in the British administration in Bengal. During this time he wrote exquisite Bengali novels, mostly with a subtle anti-British message. The poem ‘Vande Mataram’ from his novel ‘Anand Math’ was the popular song of freedom fighters. It became the national song after independence and it has the same status as the national anthem. Ironically, he needed grace marks to pass the Bengali language paper for his graduation; but in his later years, he wrote scholarly works on our traditions.
A great devotee of Krishna, he wrote ‘Krishna Charitra’ to “discuss Krishna’s human nature.” He wrote, “what is hidden under the make-believe stories of my God is something pure, an ideal character as Krishna has no parallel in human history.” The methodology he used to unravel the ‘historical Krishna’ became a template for many future researchers.
Source: “Krishna Charitra,” Translated by Alo Shome
Picture from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68590649

Born in Calcutta in 1872, Aurobindo Ghosh received education in England. Thoroughly anglicized, he came back to India in search of his roots. He served in the Baroda princely state where he joined revolutionary activities. After the Bengal partition in 1906, he quit and came to Calcutta to become one of the first leaders of the revolutionary movement. He was prosecuted multiple times and the harsh prison life helped him to spiritual realization. He says, “I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me.”
In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry to devote himself to spirituality. His writings on the Gita were not ‘scholastic, metaphysical or analytical.’ He wrote, “We approach it for help and light and our aim must be to distinguish its essential and living message, that in it on which humanity has to seize for its highest spiritual welfare.”
Source: Sri Aurobindo; ‘Tales of Prison Life’, ‘Essays on the Gita’

Mahatma Gandhi wrote a sloka by sloka interpretation of Gita. His view was novel, “The Gita is not a historical discourse. It is the description not of war between cousins, but between two natures in us – the Good and the Evil. The deeper you dive, richer the meaning. ”
He always advocated listening to the voice of one’s conscience, when in dilemma. He equated this voice to Krishna, “The battlefield is our body. Krishna is the Lord dwelling in everyone’s heart who is ever murmuring His promptings in a pure ‘chitta’ like a clock ticking in a room. If the clock of the ‘chitta’ is not wound up with the key of self-purification, the in-dwelling Lord no doubt remains where He is, but the ticking is heard no more.”
Source: MK Gandhi, “The Bhagvadgita”

Rajaji as he is fondly called was a leading light of the freedom movement. He served as the second governor general of the independent Dominion of India between 1948-50 till it was a declared a Republic in 1950. He later became a prominent opposition leader.
He is best remembered for his simplified English versions of the Ramayana, Mahabharata & Gita which have sold in millions. Rajaji writes on how his Gita can help the youth, “(It) is written mainly as a handbook for students. This little book is an attempt like what the father in the old story did with his sons. They were told to dig for treasure in the family garden. The gold was indeed found, not as treasure hidden in a pot but as a reward for toil, as plentiful crop. There is nothing in what the writer has himself written, but if the readers are induced to dig, the Gita, our precious patrimony, will yield a rich harvest for the striving soul.”
Picture from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35049196-the-bagavad-gita)

Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the most popular leader of India in his time. He awakened the masses against British rule by his famous slogan, “Swarajya is my birth right.” He wrote many scholarly books on the Vedas and their historicity. He wrote the ‘Gita Rahasya’ in Marathi to emphasise action over renunciation or devotion. He said, “Let me begin by telling you what induced me to take up the study of the Bhagavad Gita. When I was quite a boy, I was often told by my elders that strictly religious and a truly philosophical life was incompatible with the humdrum life of every day. One could not serve two masters, the world and God. The question that I formulated for myself to be solved was: Does my religion want me to give up this world and renounce it before I attempt to, or be able to, attain the perfection of manhood?”
Source: https://culturalsamvaad.com/bal-gangadhar-tilak-on-the-gita-rahasya/

The famous trio of Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak & Bipan Chandra Pal) advocated direct action for freedom. This was in an era where most nationalist leaders kept a cooperative attitude to the British. Lalaji died in a lathi charge when he was protesting the arrival of the Simon Commission in 1928. His death marked an important even in the freedom movement. He was concerned that the flippant analysis of Krishna’s life by non-Hindus was leading to tension in his native State Punjab. He wrote the book ‘Yogiraj Krishna’ in Urdu to explain Krishna’s life and works to address such misgivings.

Hasrat Mohani is not remembered despite many achievements. He was a nationalist, many attribute ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ to him. He was a communist, being a founder member of the Commuinist Party of India. He was a Sufi Muslim scholar with the title ‘Maulana.’ He was a Muslim League member of the Constituent Assembly who rejected partition by refusing Jinnah’s diktat to boycott the assembly.
He also wrote devotional poems to Krishna in a mix of Urdu & Awadhi which he called Bhasha. In this, he was following the footsteps of Muslim bhakti poets from the Ganga Jamuna region, starting with Rahim.
He wrote, “kuch ham ko bhī ‘atā ho ki ai hazrat-i-Kirishn, iqlīm-i-‘ishq āp ke zer-i-qadam hai khās, Hasrat kī bhī qubūl ho mathurā meñ hāzirī, sunte haiñ ‘āshiqoñ pe tumhārā karam hai khās i.e. Revered Krishna, bestow something on me too, For under your feet lies the entire realm of love. May you accept Hasrat’s attendance at Mathura – I hear you are specially kind to all lovers”.
The Wikimedia image shows Hasrat Mohani with Ambedkar in 1949.
Source: CM Naim, ‘The Maulana who loved Krishna’, Economic and Political Weekly, 2013

Lohia developed an Indian version of socialism, marrying economic equity to the idea of eliminating caste prejudice. He became the inspiration of backward class leaders of North India. He was part of the socialist grouping within the Congress party during the freedom movement. After freedom, they left the Congress and formed the opposition to Nehru.
Even though he was an atheist, he never underestimated the influence of tradition. He did not forsake out culture. He wrote, “Ram and Krishna and Siva are India’s three great dreams of perfection. Ram is the perfection of the limited personality (Maryada), Krishna of the exuberant personality (Leela) and Siva of the non-dimensional personality(Nirakar-Nirgun), but each is perfect. There is no question of one being less or more perfect than another. Perfection only knows kinds or categories of quality. Each may select the category of perfection that corresponds with his own phase of life at the moment.”
The image shows Lohia with a young Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur.
Source: ‘Ram, Krishna, Siva’, lohiatoday.com
https://thebiharmail.com/bihar-state-govt-recommends-dr-ram-manohar-lohiya-and-karpoori-thakur-name-for-bharat-ratna/

Bhagavad Gita was Swami Vivekananda‘s lifelong companion. Ramakrishna, the mentor and Guru of Swami Vivekananda, used to say that one could understand the essential meaning of Gita by repeating the word several times “Gita, Gita Gita Gita…”, and when it is done, one finds themselves uttering “ta-gi ta-gi ta-gi…”
The word “tyag” (Bengali: ত্যাগ ) means “renounce” or “one who renounces everything for God.” Ramakrishna told, Gita teaches us to become unselfish and tyagi.
Source: https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-bhagavad-gita/
Picture from Wikimedia

He was perhaps the youngest revolutionary to make the ultimate sacrifice. Khudiram Bose was just 18 when he was hanged to death. He had a smile on his face, and held the Bhagavad Gita in his hands. When the judge asked him about the act he had committed, he smiled and replied, “If you allow me, I can teach you how to make bombs in no time.”

He was influenced by the speeches of Aurobindo and others in early 20th century Bengal and had joined their ‘Anushilan Samiti’ which targeted tyrannical British officers. Bose & Prafulla Chaki (also only 19) were caught after an unsuccessful attempt on the life of a British officer at Muzaffarpur, Bihar in 1908.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/khudiram-bose-life-facts-youngest-freedom-fighter-2644105-2024-12-03
Picture from Wikimedia

A former President of India, S Radhakrishnan is more known as one of the most recognized and influential Indian thinkers in academic circles in the 20th century. He demonstrated that Hinduism was both philosophically coherent and ethically viable. His extensive knowledge of the Western traditions made him a bridge-builder between India and the West. Radhakrishnan wrote his commentary on the Gita in the classical style but with modern outlook.
He wrote, “Our times are different; our habits of thought, the mental background to which we relate our experience, are not quite the same as those of the classical commentators. The chief problem facing us today is the reconciliation of mankind. The Gita is specially suited for the purpose, as it attempts to reconcile varied and apparently antithetical forms of the religious consciousness.”
The image from Swarajya shows Radhakrishnan with Rabindranath Tagore, two of the greatest modern philosophers of India.
Source: https://iep.utm.edu/radhakri/
Picture from Swarajya Magazine

British reformer Annie Besant (1847-1933) vigorously supported socialism, birth control, trade unionism, and rights of women. She was involved with the theosophical society, founded the home rule league and served as the first woman president of the Indian National congress. She explored the Gita through two translations and two lecture series. She used terms from Christian theology to establish Gita’s secret message that needs to be unveiled.
Besant presents yoga not as a specific philosophical-religious tradition (as it is treated classically) but as a universal method of spiritual development. Gita is a “scripture of Yoga which means harmony with the Divine Law, the becoming one with the Divine Life, harmony with the highest self.” Kurukṣetra represents the “battlefield of the soul,” Arjuna the struggling soul, and Krishna the “Logos of the Soul.” Gita is a lesson for all “aspiring souls” in East and West who have the same goal but approach it differently.
Source: Angelika Malinar, ‘ The Great Unveiling : Annie Besant and the Bhagvad Gita’, University of Zurich