Ishor Chondro Biddashagor

Ishshor Chôndro Biddashagor (26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), born Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay  was an Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. Vidyasagar was a philosopher, academic, educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur, reformer, and philanthropist. His efforts to make simpler and modernize Bengali writing style were significant. He also rationalized and simplified the Bengali alphabet and type, which had remained unmoved since Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first (wooden) Bengali type in 1780.

He acknowledged the title "Vidyasagar" (in sanskrit vidya means knowledge and sagar means ocrean, i.e., Ocean of knowledge) from the Calcutta Sanskrit College (where he graduated), due to his exceptional understanding in Sanskrit studies and attitude.

Biography

Ishwar Chandra was born to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi at Birsingha village, in the Ghatal subdivision of Paschim Midnapore District, on 26 September 1820. At the age of 6 he went to Calcutta. In Calcutta (present day Kolkata), Ishwar started living in Bhagabat Charan's house in Burrabazar, where Thakurdas had already been staying for some years. Ishwar felt at ease amidst Bhagabat's large family and settled down contentedly in no time. Bhagabat's youngest daughter Raimoni's maternal and affectionate feelings towards Ishwar touched him deeply and had a strong influence on his later radical work towards the upliftment of women's position in India.

His quest for knowledge was so powerful that he used to learning under a street light as it was not possible for him to manage to pay for a gas lamp at home.He empty all the examination with excellence and in quick succession. He was rewarded with a number of scholarships for his academic performance. To support himself and the family, Ishwar Chandra also took a part-time job of training at Jorashanko. Ishwar Chandra joined the Sanskrit College, Calcutta and deliberate there for twelve long years and passed out of the college in 1841 qualify in Sanskrit Grammar, Literature, Rhetoric [Alankara Shastra], Vedanta, Smruti and Astronomy.In the year 1839, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar productively cleared his Law evaluation. In 1841, at the age of twenty one years, Ishwar Chandra joined Fort William College as head of the Sanskrit department.

After five years, in 1846, Vidyasagar left Fort William College and join the Sanskrit College as 'Assistant Secretary'. In the first year of overhaul, Ishwar Chandra optional a number of changes to the existing education system. This report resulted into a serious argument between Ishwar Chandra and College Secretary Rasomoy Dutta. In 1849, he again joined Sanskrit College, as a professor of literature. In 1851, Ishwar Chandra became the principal of Sanskrit College. In 1855, he was made particular inspector of schools with additional charges. But following the substance of Rasomoy Dutta, Vidyasagar submissive from Sanskrit College and rejoin Fort William College as a head clerk.

Bengali alphabet and language rebuilding

Vidyasagar reconstructed the Bengali alphabet and rehabilitated Bengali typeface into an alphabet (actually abugida) of twelve vowels and forty consonants. Vidyasagar make a payment considerably to Bengali and Sanskrit literature.Vidyasagar's "Barna Porichoy" is still watchful a classic.

Books authored by Vidyasagar

• Betaal Panchabinsati (1847)
• Bangala-r Itihaas (1848)
• Jeebancharit (1850)
• Bodhadoy (1851)
• Upakramanika (1851)
• Shakuntala (1855)
• Bidhaba Bibaha Bishayak Prostab (1890)

Meeting with Sri Ramakrishna

One of the important chapters in the The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the depiction of the meeting stuck between Sri Ramakrishna, the 19th on his philanthropic activities, sympathy and suggested him to do these behavior in a self-sacrificing spirit. Sri Ramakrishna on his own own traveled to see Vidyasagar. Sri Ramakrishna invited Vidyasagar to the Kali temple where he was portion. Vidyasagar was himself liberal in his outlook even though he was born in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. He was highly sophisticated and prejudiced by Oriental thoughts and ideas. Ramakrishna in contrast did not have a formal education. According to the gospel Ramakrishna discussed a variety of topics including the world of duality and trascendental nature of Brahman, citing the parable of the salt doll, the wood harvester and the ant and the sugar hill, on unfairness flanked by true and false knowledge, on dissimilar manifestation of God's power, on ego and misery, on the power of faith etc.

Accolades

Shortly after Vidyasagar's death, Rabindranath Tagore deferentially wrote concerning him: "One wonders how God, in the process of producing forty million Bengalis, shaped a man.After death, he is memorize in many ways, some of them include:

Vidyasagar Setu, which connect Howrah and Kolkata, is name upon him

1.     Vidyasagar Setu (commonly known as the Second Hooghly Bridge), is a bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It relations the city of Howrah to its twin city of Kolkata. The viaduct is named after Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

2.     A fair named Vidyasagar Mela (Bengali: বিদ্যাসাগর মেলা Biddashagor Mêla), which is dedicated to spreading education and increasing social awareness, has been held per annum in West Bengal since 1994. Since 2001, it has been held simultaneously in Kolkata and Birsingha.

3.     There is a reputed college named after him and it is located in College Street, Kolkata and a university named Vidyasagar University in Paschim Midnapore.

4.     Rectitude and bravery were the hallmarks of Vidyasagar's character, and he was definitely ahead of his time. In recognition of his scholarship and cultural work the government designated Vidyasagar a Companion of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1877. In the final years of life, he chose to use up his days among the "Santhals", an old tribe in India.

5.     There is Vidyasagar avenue in Central Kolkata, which is named after him.

6.     The West Bengal Government has customary a sports ground named after this great man Vidyasagar Stadium at Barasat, the district center of Uttar 24 Pargana.

A compassionate reformist

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar felt very sorry and compassionate whenever he saw poor and weak people were in distress. Though he was very outspoken and blunt in his mannerisms, he was known to be kind man [citation needed]. He was also known for his charity and philanthropy as "Daya-r Sagar" or "Karunar Sagar" – ocean of compassion, for his immense generosity [citation needed]. He always reflected and responded to distress calls of the poor, sufferings of the sick and injustice to humanity. While being a apprentice at Sanskrit College, he would spend part of his scholarship proceeds and cook paayesh (rice pudding) to feed the poor and buy medicines for the sick [citation needed].

Later on, when he started earning, he paid fixed sums of monthly allowances to each member of his joint family, to family servants, to needy neighbours, to villagers who needed help and to his village surgery and school. This he continual without break even when he was jobless and had to borrow considerably from time to time.

Vidyasagar did not believe that currency was adequate to ease the sufferings of humanity. He opened the doors of the Sanskrit College to lower caste student (previously it was exclusive to the Brahmins), nursed sick cholera patients, went to crematoriums to bury unclaimed dead bodies, dined with the untouchables and walked miles as a messenger-man to take urgent letters to people who would benefit from them.

When the eminent Indian Poet of the 19th century, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, fell hopelessly into amount overdue due to his reckless lifestyle during his stay in Versailles, France, he appealed for help to Vidyasagar, who laboured to ensure that arithmetic owed to Michael from his belongings at home were remitted to him and sent him a large sum of money to France.