Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ( Bengali : ঈশ্বর চন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর , Īśbar Candra Bidyāsāgar ; real name: Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay ; born September 26, 1820 in the village of Birshingha in the Midnapore district , Bengal ; † July 29, 1891 ) was an Indian social reformer and scholar. He is considered the founder of the modern Bengali language and, with regard to his social reforms, as the spiritual successor of Ram Mohan Roy . The name Vidyasagar is an honorary title for the highly learned (literally: ocean of learning or ocean of knowledge ).
Live and act
Vidyasagar is said to have spent his childhood in extreme poverty. At the age of 8 he came to Kolkata with his parents . During his school days at Sanskrit College from 1829 to 1841, his thirst for knowledge is said to have been so immense that he worked outside by street lights because his parents could not afford gas lights. In 1839 he passed a "Hindu Law" exam and was honored with the title "Vidyasagar". What is the truth of this early part of his life or the myth that has arisen through the formation of legends cannot be judged without doubt today.
In 1841 Vidyasagar took his first position as a teacher at Fort Williams College in Kolkata, where he also studied English and Hindi . Through his work, he felt a need to restructure the education system. When he became director of the Sanskrit College in 1851, he began to implement his ideas. While the college was previously only accessible to students from the Brahmin caste , Vidyasagar initially abolished this caste restriction.
In 1855 the government gave him responsibility for schools in the surrounding districts. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar then founded several girls' schools in various places in Bengal in order to be able to provide women with a minimum level of education for the first time. In total, over 1000 such schools are said to have been founded as a result of his initiative.
It turned out that practically no teaching texts for primary education existed in Bengali, since education has so far been practically exhausted in the study of Sanskrit texts. Vidyasagar then wrote school books in simple Bengali, as well as grammar books and books for basic mathematical education. These were in use in Bengal until the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, Vidyasagar translated numerous texts from English and Sanskrit into Bengali.
Vidyasagar also campaigned successfully, but against strong resistance from the upper class, for the right of widows to remarriage and against bigamy and child marriage , which was finally implemented legally in 1856 in the Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act and in 1872 in the Civil Marriage Act . In 1857 he was a founding member of Calcutta University .
Rabindranath Thakur called him the "father of the modern Bengali language" and the poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta described the essence of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagars with the words: "the genius and wisdom of a scholar, the energy of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother".
In 1981 the West Bengal government established Vidyasagar University in Medinipur by law .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vidyasagar, Ishwar Chandra |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indian social reformer and scholar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1820 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Birshingha, Midnapore District , Bengal |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 29, 1891 |