ISHWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR, A GREAT MAN

ISHWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR

Life of a Great Man

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) was a Sanskrit scholar, writer, educator, social reformer, philanthropist. He was born on 26 September 1820 in the village of Birsingh in the Midnapore district of West Bengal. His father's name was Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay. At the age of five, Ishwar Chandra was sent to a village school. In December 1828 he was admitted to a school in Calcutta and in June 1829 to a Sanskrit college. He was a very talented student, and by 1839 he had obtained the title of Vidyasagar. Later, he studied grammar, literature, rhetoric, Vedanta, law, logic, astronomy, Hindu law and English at the college for two years. Moreover, every year he receives scholarships and books and financial awards.

Shortly after leaving the Sanskrit College in December 1841, he became the chief scholar of Bengali at Fort William College. In April 1848 he served as Assistant Secretary in the Sanskrit College. Due to the conservative attitude of the teachers, he resigned from the Sanskrit College in July 1848, and in January 1849, was appointed head writer and treasurer of Fort William College. In December 1850, he became a professor of literature at the Sanskrit College and the next month became the principal of the college.

Life of a Great Man

As principal, he made many reforms of the college. Earlier, only Brahmin and Vaidya students had the right to study in this college, but he opened the doors of the college to all classes of Hindus. He introduced nominal salary for college and introduced weekly leave on Sundays instead of Pratipada and Ashtami. He also fulfilled his promise to negotiate with the government so that students could get the post of deputy magistrate with a college degree. But he brought important reforms to the college curriculum. Earlier, grammar and algebra and mathematics were taught in Sanskrit, but he introduced the rule of teaching grammar in Bengali and mathematics in English instead of Sanskrit. He made learning English compulsory and improved the English department. He also emphasized on Bengali education. However, he made more extensive changes in the philosophy curriculum. He considered Samkhya and Vedanta philosophy to be erroneous and antiquated. For that reason, he opposed teaching Berkeley philosophy and similar Western philosophy and recommended teaching Bacon's philosophy and John Stuart Mill's logic instead. Although he was criticized by many, his reforms were far-reaching, and the Council of Education praised his reforms and, as a reward, increased his salary in January 1854.

After Charles Wood's Charter of Education was adopted in 1854, the government decided to expand education in rural areas. For this purpose in May 1855, Vidyasagar was given the responsibility of Assistant School Inspector. Almost immediately he took initiative to establish schools in Nadia, Burdwan, Hooghly and Medinipur districts. In two years, he established twenty such schools. He also set up a normal school to train teachers in these schools. He established a school in his village at his own expense. 

Life of a Great Man
Apart from these Bengali model schools, the government also decided to set up girls' schools. Back then, conservative society thought that educating women was forbidden. The government was not sure whether it would be possible to establish such a school in the face of strong opposition from society. On the other hand, Vidyasagar was a special supporter of women's education. That is why the government gave him the responsibility for this work. He set up a school in Burdwan in support of the local people for opening a girls school. He was later able to establish thirty-five more schools between November 1857 and May 1856.

But he could not continue the work for long due to disagreement with the director of the education authority. So he resigned from both the post of principal of Sanskrit College and the post of the school inspector.  He was probably the first Bengali to hold such a high position. Later he collaborated with the government in the work of expanding education, especially in educating girls. At this time he became associated with the Bethune Society. The work of this society was to spread women's education and increase the status of women in the family and society. He also encouraged wealthy zamindars to set up schools.

The Calcutta Metropolitan Institution was established in 1859 to teach English to the sons of wealthy families. But when the school was about to close within two years, Vidyasagar took over the management of the school and in 184 he renamed it the Hindu Metropolitan Institute. With the permission of Calcutta University, he continued to teach students for entrance examinations in this school and gradually succeeded. In early 182, Calcutta University recognized the school as a college and in 189 as a degree college.
Life of a Great Man

Apart from the reform and modernization of Sanskrit colleges and the establishment of Bengali and girls' schools, his most important contribution in the field of education was to compose and publish textbooks. Until the publication of Varnaparichaya (1851), there was no such standard textbook for the first students.  The standard of his caste identity was so high that from the time of its publication until half a century ago, this book was read by all in Bengal. One and a half hundred years later, this book is still in print. Bodhodaya (1851), Kathamala (1856), Charitabali (1856) and Jivancharita (1859) were equally successful as caste. Introduction to Sanskrit Grammar and (1851) Fancy Introduction: Before this, there was no Sanskrit grammar in Bengali. The four-volume Grammar-Kaumudi (1853-63) is a historical contribution to his grammar.

Analyzing his textbooks, it is clear that he not only wrote them as teaching techniques but also aimed at improving students' sense of ethics and providing a modern outlook. In Charitamala, for example, he did not write biographies of the sages of ancient India but introduced sixteen famous people of Europe. He also wrote short biographies of scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Herschel, and scholars such as William Jones. The same point of view is identified in the sense of principle. In it, he makes no mention of formal religion and rituals, but of the principles that all people should have. In Kathamala he has collected ethical stories. And in three volumes, he has collected true and popular stories from Europe-America (and four Arab countries and Persia). The titles of these stories - মাতৃভক্তি, পিতৃভক্তি, ভ্রাতৃস্নেহ, গুরুভক্তি, আতিথেয়তা, পরোপকার and সাধুতার পুরস্কার show that he not only wanted to improve the students' sense of principle but also to broaden their horizons. His textbooks were read all over Bengal for a long time. Through these, he was able to teach both authentic language and spelling at the same time, as well as to develop a sense of principle.

He was able to reform Bengali prose and improve its quality not only through textbooks but also through his other works. The Bengali prose style developed by the scholars of Fort William College and Rammohan Roy was in any way suitable for expression. His earlier prose had words to express information but it did not have the beauty, fluency and ease of movement which can be called literary prose or with which literature can be composed. Vidyasagar changed that by publishing Betalpanchabingsati in 1847. Vidyasagar enriched Bengali prose by discovering the word-harmony of Bengali prose, reforming the sentence-structure, establishing a proper correlation between subject and verb and verb and action. In addition, it combines breathing and meaning, and uses English punctuation, especially commas, to make it easier for the reader to see. Before him, only Akshay Kumar Dutt used English punctuation properly.

Life of a Great Man

Of course, he did not write all his works in the same prose style. He wrote his different works differently from the style in which he wrote the textbooks. Again, the style of his anonymous books is completely different — full of humour and satire.

Vidyasagar proved in his first literary book Betalpanchabingshati that he only retold and translated the stories of Betal. In telling the stories, he reformed and changed them and made them suitable for modern readers by giving up the gross taste of the original. The same can be said about Shakuntala (1854) based on Kalidasa. Moreover, in this book, he made Shakuntala and her two friends like Bengali women. Sita of Sitar Banabash also became a very Bengali woman. Even when he translated Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors under the name Bhrantibilas (1869), he adapted it to the Bengali environment. Moreover, his delusions are stories, not dramas. His eloquence, subtle humour, and eloquence make these two texts seem to be original, not translations. In his prose, he has used musical and thematic words with alliteration. He was modern-minded. He realized that society and the country would never really improve unless old values ​​and changes were brought about within the family. To this end, he launched a movement to introduce widowhood, ban polygamy and child marriage, and expand women's education.

A few months after he left the Sanskrit College, his first anonymous article in favour of remarriage of child widows was published in the Bengal Spectator in April 1842. His first book on the subject was published in January 1855, and his second in October. Thus, in addition to providing scriptural evidence in favour of widowhood, he initiated a social movement to enact a law in favour of widow remarriage. On the 4th of this month, he sent a petition with many signatures to the government. Later 24 more such applications were sent to the government. Many applications come from other parts of India. These applications had about twenty-five thousand signatures. Conservative society, on the other hand, sent twenty-eight petitions to the government opposing the enactment of the law. They argued that the government should not interfere in the religion of the people passing such a law. It had more than fifty-five thousand signatures. Despite the opposition, the Widowhood Act was enacted in July 1856.

Life of a Great Man

Vidyasagar and his friends arranged the marriage of a widow in December 1857 in the face of protests and severe opposition from a conservative society. Patra was a colleague of Vidyasagar in Sanskrit College. Moreover, he did not hesitate to marry a widow with his only son. After succeeding in enacting the Widow Marriage Act, he appealed to the government to pass a law to prevent polygamy and child marriage.

He is known as Karunasagar for his kindness and humanity (this adjective was first given to him by Michael Madhusudan Dutt). He became famous for his charity and kindness. He was born into a traditional and conservative family and he also argued for social reform from Hindu scriptures, But he was sceptical about religion and God. In his বোধোদয়, as he began with the definition of matter. He later defined God, whom he described as omnipotent, omnipresent. Later in this text, he defined everything that can be seen, touched, felt; But he did not mention God or any supernatural force.

While serving as the principal of the Sanskrit College, in 1855 the government gave him the additional charge of Special Inspector of Schools in Hughli, Burdwan, Medinipur and Nadia districts. He was a respected member of the Asiatic Society (Calcutta) and some other organizations, including the Bethune Society. He was one of the first Fellows of Calcutta University to be elected in 1858. He received a Certificate of Honour at the Imperial Assemblies in January 1877 and became a CIE in January 1880. He also received respect and congratulations from various social, cultural and scientific institutions. He died on July 29, 1891.

Life of a Great Man