Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

In 1834 when he was 14 years old he married Dinamani Devi. The couple had one son, Narayan Chandra.

He was very unhappy with his family due to their narrow-mindedness and went to live with the Santhals at ‘Nandan Kanan’ in the district of Jamtara where he spent the last two decades of his life. During his later years his health deteriorated and he died in 1891.

He was born to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi in a small village. When he was six years old he was sent to Calcutta to stay with Bhagabat Charan.

Bhagabat Charan had a large family which was very affectionate towards the little boy. The youngest daughter of the house especially doted on him, and this imbibed in him a great respect and concern for the women, which later influenced his social activities.

His thirst for knowledge was so great that he used to study under the street lights as he could not afford to buy a gas lamp. He was a good student and earned a number of scholarships to further his education.

He attended the Sanskrit College, Calcutta where he studied Sanskrit Grammar, Literature, Vedanta, Smruti and Astronomy, and passed out in 1841. Meanwhile he had also cleared his Law examination in 1839.

Due to his in-depth knowledge in Sanskrit and philosophy, he received the title “Vidyasagar” from Sanskrit College.

He joined Fort William College (FWC) as a Principal Lecturer in 1841. G.T. Marshall who was the secretary of the college was much impressed by the young man’s dedication and hard work. He worked in the college for five years.

In 1846, he joined the Sanskrit College as Assistant Secretary. During his first year he suggested several changes to the existing education system. This did not go well with the College Secretary Rasomoy Dutta.

Vidyasagar resigned due to the differences with Dutta, and temporarily took up the position of head clerk position at FWC on Marshall’s advice. He joined the Sanskrit College again in 1849 as a professor of literature and was made the principal of the college in 1851.

He was made the special inspector of schools in 1855. He traveled around Bengal and visited schools. During his travels, he witnessed the pathetic conditions in which people lived. Superstitions and blind faith were prevalent due to lack of education.

This motivated him to establish schools all over Bengal to spread the light of education. Within two months he arranged for 20 schools to be built. In order to encourage gender equality, he also established 30 schools exclusively for girls.

He is best remembered for his relentless efforts in fighting the injustices meted out to women, especially widows. Moved by the plight of child widows, he persuaded the British Government to take action and pushed for it to pass The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856.