Iswarchandra Vidyasagar

by

Amiya P. Sen

• LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2023
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0268

Introduction

Iswarchandra Bandopadhyay (b. 1820–d. 1891), commonly known as Pundit Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, was a prominent polymath of 19th-century Bengal, emblematic of the flowering of new ideas and values during that period. The Pundit felicitously combined the roles of an educator, creative writer, and social reformer in ways that were unique. The man was an exemplary student, highly meritorious and painstakingly diligent, notwithstanding the poverty and hardships he had to face in his early life. His prodigious scholarship earned him the title “Vidyasagar” (literally, the “ocean of learning”), conferred upon him by his teachers. Though groomed in the Sanskrit knowledge systems, Vidyasagar differed from the traditional Hindu scholar and teacher in two meaningful respects. First, he viewed his educational schemes as experiments in bridging indigenous knowledge and the European. This endeavor persuaded him to critique his own tradition and introduce innovative changes within existing courses of study. Second, he devoted much energy and attention to the production of a new genre of textbooks that simplified the processes of learning and employed a moral pedagogy, which he believed would help build character in young schoolboys. His primers for the study of the Bengali language are still in use in contemporary Bengal, more than a century after they were first produced. As a social reformer, Vidyasagar took up issues that were both daunting and deeply problematic. He was a pioneer in the field of female education and persuaded the government to pass a law enabling Hindu widows to marry. However, he was less successful with some related issues, such as prohibiting Hindu polygamy. All the same, his work demonstrates the importance of creating an enlightened public opinion, as well as the practical necessity for social legislation. Vidyasagar was also an accomplished writer and contributed to the modernization of the Bengali language. He wrote in elegant Bengali prose, freed of both older pedantic influences and vulgar colloquialism. In his own province, Vidyasagar is also still remembered as a great philanthropist and a compassionate soul, always ready to rescue those in distress, and often at the risk of incurring personal debts. In his mental constitution, he was an activist, pledged to improving everyday life in the world, and the traditional Hindu concerns with renunciation or afterlife utterly failed to move him. Sadly, Vidyasagar also remains the only iconic figure from renascent Bengal whose memory has been thoughtlessly tarnished by posterity. Both the political Left and the political Right in India have taken turns in publicly vandalizing his image without just cause.

General Overviews

In his own time and thereafter, Vidyasagar invited copious public attention and interest; thus, any assessment of his life must begin with the existing biographical literature on him, which grew prolifically following his 200th birthday celebrations in 2020. Vidyasagar and his work did not attract great international attention and, with respect to Indian biographers, works in the Bengali language far outnumber those in English; as a result, Vidyasagar remains a somewhat provincialized figure when compared to near contemporaries like Rammohun Roy. On the whole, this biographical literature can be classified under three broad categories. First, there are personal recollections and reminiscences, some of which were published immediately following his death; second, biographical sketches and full-length accounts, both in the English language and in Bengali; third, scholarly works that attempt to situate the man and his work within his historical and social context. Full-length biographies of Vidyasagar began to appear very soon after his passing away in 1891. Vidyaratna 1891 makes public the essential facts and features about the Pundit’s life. The author of Bandopadhyay 1895 published a fuller biographical account in 1895. He was a Brahmo in his religious life; thus, his account deliberately highlighted the liberal-reformist side to Vidyasagar’s life. Sarkar 1895, however, belongs to a very different genre of writing since this work represents the Hindu backlash against Brahmo reformism. Vidyaratna 1895 is a rejoinder to Bandopadhyay 1895 and seeks to allege errors and misconceptions. Mitra 2008 (originally published in 1902), on the other hand, is the first biography of Vidyasagar written in English and closely follows Sarkar’s conservative line of thinking. Roy 1921 is heavily weighted in favor of Vidyasagar as an educationist, but its treatment of Vidyasagar’s role as a social reformer is relatively weak.

• Bandopadhyay, Chandicharan. Vidyasagar. Calcutta: Sanskrit Press Depository, 1895.

  A major biography once prescribed reading for students at the Calcutta University and still popular. Bandopadhyay’s Brahmo predilections explain his tendency to highlight Vidyasagar’s role as a committed social reformer.

• Mitra, Subal Chandra. Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar: A Story of His Life and Work. Introduction by R. C. Dutt. Delhi: Rupa, 2008.

  Originally published in 1902. The first English-language biography written by an admirer for non-Bengali readers. Ideologically, Mitra leans on the work by Sarkar and faults Vidyasagar for his social reformism, allegedly taken to unreasonable lengths. A reprint published Delhi: Rupa, 2008.

• Roy, Ananta Kumar. Vidyasagar: The Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist. Calcutta: Roy, 1921.

  Possibly the second English-language biography after that of Mitra, this work focuses on Vidyasagar’s role as an educator and on his famed philanthropic habits. Privately published. Not a popular work.

• Sarkar, Biharilal (compiled). Vidyasagar Arthat Alochana Sankalita Iswarchandra Vidyasagarer Jeebon. Calcutta: Baninath Nandi, 1895.

  Another major, well-researched biography appearing in 1895, but with a very different orientation. Sarkar was a journalist associated with the conservative Bangabasi press and strongly disapproved of Vidyasagar’s attempts to legalize widow marriages. Sarkar perceived the Pundit’s reservations on the Consent Bill (1890–1891) as some kind of atonement for his earlier radicalism.

• Vidyaratna, Sambhuchandra. Vidyasagar Jeeboncharit. Calcutta: Charuchandra Bandopadhyay, 1891.

  Vidyaratna’s biography, privately published, is a first-hand account authored by a brother who remained in close touch with Vidyasagar in his personal and professional life. The work lost its uniqueness following the publication of fuller and better-researched monographs.

• Vidyaratna, Sambhuchandra. Bhramanirasharthat Srijukta Chandicharan Bandopadhyayer Vidyasagar Name Notun Jeebonchariter Bhrama Nirakaran. Calcutta: Author, 1895.

  Privately published rejoinder to Chandicharan Bandopadhyay’s reporting several factual errors related to the life of Vidyasagar. Vidyaratna alleged that Bandopadhyay adulated Vidyasagar beyond reason. Now available in print together with Vidyaratna’s biography of 1891 as Vidyasagar. Jeeboncharit O Bhramanirash (Kolkata, Chirayat Prakashan, 1992).