Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar

Indian educator and social reformer

• Born: September 26, 1820
• Birthplace: Birsinha, Bengal, British India (now West Bengal, India)
• Died: July 29, 1891
• Place of death: Calcutta, Bengal, British India (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India)

Vidyasagar was a great Sanskrit scholar, educator, and social reformer who influenced almost every aspect of Indian life. He modernized the teaching of Sanskrit and Bengali, stressed the importance of learning English, and was a leader in Hindu social reform.

Early Life

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar (ee-shb-awr tch-awn-draw vidyah-shah-gawr) was born Iswar Chandra Bandopadhyay. He was a member of a poor Brahmin family known for the Sanskrit scholarship of some of its members. When he was nine years old, his father, Thakurdas, took him to Calcutta to give him a chance to learn Sanskrit. In June, 1829, he was admitted to the recently opened Sanskrit College, a government institution that required no fees. So poor that he could not afford a light under which to study at night, he studied under streetlights near his residence. Despite his poverty, Iswar Chandra had a brilliant academic career and won prizes, medals, and scholarships at every stage of his studies. Although some of his prizes and scholarships were quite valuable, he gave away much of his winnings.

Through twelve and one-half years, Iswar Chandra studied all branches of learning in Sanskrit including Hindu religious texts, philosophy, jurisprudence, and logic. In 1839, he passed an examination in Hindu law and because of his scholastic achievements was given the title of Vidyasagar (ocean of learning.) His formal studies at the Sanskrit College ended in December of 1841, when he was twenty-one years old.

Life’s Work

Within a month of completing his formal studies, Vidyasagar took a job as the head of the Bengali Department of the Fort William College, which had been established to introduce young British expatriates to Indian history, languages, and culture. There, he taught Bengali and Hindi, while taking private courses for himself in English and Hindi. He met a number of civilians associated with the government who would help his later work.

In 1846, Vidyasagar resigned from Fort William College to join his alma mater, Sanskrit College. However, he had some differences of opinion with the secretary of that institution and resigned after only a brief stay. While he was at Fort William College, Vidyasagar had translated a well-known Hindi book, Baital Paccisi, into Bengali. He now started his own publishing firm, the Samskrta Jantra and Book Depository, to print and distribute his own books.

Although the Bengali language derives from ancient Sanskrit, it has certain consonants that are absent in Sanskrit, and a few Sanskrit letters are not used in Bengali. Through the publications from his press, Vidyasagar refined the Bengali alphabet that is still used today. He explained the changes he made in the introduction to one of his most famous books, Baranaparichay (introduction to letters). Some of the publications of the Fort William College were printed by his press.

In 1850, Vidyasagar was invited to return to Sanskrit College as professor of literature. Within two months, he was made principal, a position specially created for him. During the eight years that he held that position, he made critical changes in the school’s educational system. When he started, only upper-caste Hindus were admitted to the college; under his administration, members of all castes were accepted. He also made the English language a compulsory subject. Because the texts used to teach Sanskrit grammar were ancient and difficult, Vidyasagar wrote several new textbooks on Sanskrit himself. Some of his books are still used today.

In 1859, a small group of Bengali Hindus started the Calcutta Training School. Vidyasagar took over the school’s management in 1864. This first nongovernment-supported Indian school under independent management was later renamed the Metropolitan Institution, and it eventually became affiliated with Calcutta University, through which it awarded advanced degrees. In 1917, the institution was renamed Vidyasagar College.

Meanwhile, Vidyasagar continued to write and translated books from English, Hindi, and Sanskrit into Bengali to give Bengali-speaking students wider access to biography, history, astronomy, and world geography. Among his translations was William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (1592-1594), which he published in Bengali as Bhrantibilas (1869). He was also actively involved in the publication two important Bengali journals, Tattwabodhini and Somprakāsh, and helped to keep going The Hindu Patriot, an influential liberal journal, after the death of its founder.

High among Vidyasagar’s agenda for reforming Hindu society was female emancipation. In 1829, the British government had abolished suttee—the practice of widows’ throwing themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Since that time, Hindu widows—who were barred from remarrying—generally led menial and dismal lives and often depended on the charity of relatives. Through the pages of the journals he edited and tracts that he wrote, Vidyasagar fought for women’s emancipation and especially for women’s education. From his immense knowledge of Sanskrit religious and legal texts, he showed that remarriage had been permitted to widows in ancient India. In response to his publications and a signature campaign, the government finally passed the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act in 1856. Vidyasagar personally presided over many widow remarriage ceremonies and often provided financial support. His only son married a widow. His other efforts at Hindu female emancipation included proscribing polygamy in the Kulin sect of Brahmins and raising the age of consent for sexual intercourse for girls; however, neither objective was achieved during his lifetime.

Vidyasagar played a major role in making education available to Hindu women. He was the honorary secretary of the Bethune School (later College) for Women from 1850 to 1869. As a government inspector of schools, he opened a large number of schools for women in Bengal—usually at his own expense until he was later reimbursed by the government. To relieve the financial distress of Hindu women, especially widows, he was a prime mover in launching the Hindu Family Annuity Fund in 1872. That institution still exists as a part of the nationalized Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Vidyasagar was also interested in the dramatic arts. From 1865 to 1873, he was a member of the managing committee of the Bengali Theatre of Pathuriāghāta and regularly attended its stage performances. Because most women actors at that time were prostitutes, he did not allow the theater to employ them; he instead preferred to have men play female roles.

On July 29, 1891, Vidyasagar died in Calcutta. He was seventy years old at the time of his death.

Significance

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar remains a towering figure in modern Indian history. One of the greatest educators of India, he revolutionized the teaching of both Sanskrit and Bengali—which now ranks as the fifth most widely spoken language in the world. The great Hindu poet Sir Rabindranath Tagore credited Vidyasagar with effectively establishing the beauty of Bengali prose. Vidyasagar’s Bengali textbook for children is still in use, as are his two textbooks on Sanskrit grammar. Vastly learned in Sanskrit religion, philosophy, and law, Vidyasagar used his knowledge to reduce caste distinctions in education, permit formal education for women, and encourage the teaching of English.

Vidyasagar always wore the simple Bengali dress of one piece of cloth for the lower body and another for the upper body, trimmed his hair in the fashion of Bengali Brahmins, and wore sandals instead of shoes. He was an atheist and did not himself perform the religious rites mandated for Brahmins. However, he permitted other members of his family to perform whatever religious rituals they wished. He considered the legalizing of widow remarriage to be his greatest achievement and was delighted that his own son married a widow of his own volition.

A generous person, Vidyasagar spent large parts of his considerable earnings in aiding the poor and the distressed—even when he had to incur debts to do so. During a famine, he fed the people of his birthplace at his own expense. Afterward, the villagers called him Dayār sāgar Vidyasagar (the Ocean of Learning is also the Ocean of Compassion)—a text that Bengali weavers wove into shirts and skirts. Over and above the respect of his countrymen, Vidyasagar was the recipient of many official honors. Portraits and statues of him are can be found throughout India. In 1970, the government issued a postage stamp with his portrait.

Bibliography

Bakshi, S. R., and Lipi Mahajan, eds. Social Reformers of India. Delhi, India: Deep & Deep, 2000. One of many books that discuss Vidyasagar’s life and works within the broader context of Indian social reform.

Hatcher, Brian A. Idioms of Improvement: Vidyasagar and Cultural Encounter in Bengal. Calcutta, India: Oxford University Press, 1996. Hatcher focuses on Vidyasagar’s association with the Brahmo Samaj, a contemporary quasi-religious movement that supported many of his ideas.

Mukhopadhyay, Manik, ed. The Golden Book of Vidyasagar. Calcutta, India: All Bengal Vidyasagar Death Centenary Committee, 1993. Published during the centenary of Vidyasagar’s death, this is a collection of articles by selected authors who examine Vidyasagar’s life and works. Also contains a good bibliography, a time line of his life, and some rare photographs.

Tripathi, Amales. Vidyasagar, the Traditional Moderniser. Calcutta, India: Punascha, 1998. Written in 1970 to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Vidyasagar’s birth.

Vidyasagar, Iswar Chandra. Vidyasagar Rachan Bali. 3d ed. Calcutta, India: Tuli Kalam, 1997. A two-volume edition of Vidyasagar’s collected works in the Bengali language. Includes his will and an incomplete memoir of his childhood.