gōpäl krĭshˈnə gōkäˈlā, 1866–1915, Indian nationalist leader. A Brahman from Maharashtra, he was educated in India and became involved in the nationalist movement when he was quite young. A moderate, he stressed negotiation and conciliation rather than non-cooperation or violence. He was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1899 and to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1902. The conflict of Gokhale's moderate views with the more militant ideas of Bal Gangadhar Tilak led to a breach in the Indian National Congress that nearly immobilized it from 1907 to 1916. Gokhale was instrumental in founding the Servants of India Society, a nationalist organization whose members, sworn to poverty and obedience, were enlisted to serve as volunteers for the social, political, and economic welfare of India.

See biography and collected works by J. S. Hoyland (1948); M. K. Gandhi, Gokhale, My Political Guru (1955); S. Wolpert, Tilak and Gokhale (1962); D. B. Mathur, Gokhale, a Political Biography (1966).

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