Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Biography
Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay CIE, better known by his stage name Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar, was a nineteenth-century Indian educator and social reformer. He lived from 26 September 1820 to 29 July 1891. He made a lot of effort to modernize and streamline Bengali literature. Additionally, he rationalized and simplified the Bengali alphabet and type, which had not been updated since the first (wooden) Bengali type was cut by Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar in 1780.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the most well-known advocate for Hindu widow remarriage, petitioning the Legislative Council amid fierce resistance, including a counterpetition with nearly four times as many signatures (by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha).The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 was approved despite the fact that widow remarriage was fiercely opposed and seen as a gross violation of Hindu traditions. Lord Dalhousie personally finished the measure. The Age of Consent Act, 1891, was the result of Vidyasagar’s campaign against child marriage. where the age requirement for marriage was twelve years.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Biography
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born on 26 September 1820 in a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi at Birsingha village in Paschim Medinipur District (formerly undivided Midnapore District).
- As a child, he was a brilliant student and had a keen thirst for knowledge.
- He studied at the Sanskrit College at Calcutta and also cleared the law examination.
- He joined the Fort William College in 1841 as the Department Head for Sanskrit at the young age of 21. He was an erudite scholar of Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and English.
- Apart from being a teacher, he was also a translator, writer, philosopher, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
- He wrote ‘Borno Porichoy’ which is even today used to teach the Bengali alphabet to beginners of the language. He revolutionised the manner in which the Bengali letters were written and taught.
- As a teacher, he urged his students to learn both Indian and western philosophy and imbibe the best of both. He also opened the gates of the Sanskrit College to non-Brahmin students.
- The family originally hailed from Banamalipur, located in the present-day Hooghly district.
- At the age of 9, he moved to Calcutta and began residing in Bhagabat Charan’s house in Burrabazar, where Thakurdas had already been living for some years. Ishwar adapted quickly to life within Bhagabat’s large family and felt comfortable there.
- The youngest daughter of Bhagabat, Raimoni, showed motherly and affectionate care towards Ishwar, which deeply moved him and strongly influenced his later revolutionary efforts toward women’s upliftment. He became a staunch advocate for female education.
- He passed away in July 1891 owing to ill-health at the age of 70.
- Rabindranath Tagore remarked of Vidyasagar on his death, “One wonders how God, in the process of producing forty million Bengalis, produced a man!”
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