Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
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Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay (26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), popularly known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was an Indian educator and social reformer of …https://queenji.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=19531&action=edit
ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR LIFE HISTORY2020-2025
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Was Born on September 26 …
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On 26 September 1820, great social reformer and a key figure of the Bengal renaissance, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in Birsingha village, Bengal …https://queenji.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=19512&action=edit
About
Description
Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, popularly known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bengali prose were significant. Wikipedia
Born: 26 September 1820, Birsingha
Died: 29 July 1891 (age 70 years), Kolkata
Spouse: Dinamayee Devi (m. 1834–1888)
Children: Narayan Chandra Bandyopadhyaya
Education: Sanskrit College and University (1828–1841), Fort William College
Parents: Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay, Bhagavati Devi
Biography
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in a Hindu Brahmin family to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi at Birsingha village in Paschim Medinipur District (erstwhile undivided Midnapore District) on 26 September 1820. The family originally hailed from Banamalipur situated in present-day Hooghly district.[8][9][10] At the age of 9, he went to Calcutta and 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 comfortably in no time. Bhagabat’s youngest daughter Raimoni’s motherly and affectionate feelings towards Ishwar touched him deeply and had a strong influence on his later revolutionary work towards the upliftment of women. He championed the cause of female education.
Prarthana Samaj
Table of Contents
Prarthana Samaj, (Sanskrit: “Prayer Society”), Hindu reform society established in Bombay in the 1860s. In purpose it is similar to, but not affiliated with, the more widespread Brahmo Samaj and had its greatest sphere of influence in and around India’s Mahārāshtra state. The aim of the society is the promulgation of theistic worship and social reform, and its early goals were opposition to the caste system, the introduction of widow remarriage, the encouragement of female education, and the abolition of child marriage.
Widow Remarriage Act
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In popular culture
Indian film director Kali Prasad Ghosh made Vidyasagar (1950 film), a Bengali-language biographical film about Ishwar Chandra’s life in 1950 which starred Pahadi Sanyal in the titular role.[26][27]
Opposing Spread of Education beyond Higher Classes
he Wood’s despatch of 1854—considered the Magna Carta of Indian education—adopted a new policy towards ‘mass education’. Hitherto the official focus was on the upper classes of the population for education. Dubbed the ‘Downward Filtration Theory’, this implied that education always filters down from the upper classes of the society to the common masses.
In 1859, the government’s education policy reiterated “the spread of vernacular elementary instruction among the lower orders”.[15] Upon this, Vidyasagar addressed a letter, dated 29 September 1859, to John Peter Grant, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, underlining his perception:
An impression appears to have gained ground, both here and in England, that enough has been done for the education of the higher classes and that attention should now be directed towards the education of the masses… An inquiry into the matter will, however, show a very different state of things. As the best, if not the only practicable means of promoting education in Bengal, the Government should, in my humble opinion, confine itself to the education of the higher classes on a comprehensive scale.[16][17]
The words “higher classes” in Bengali parlance do not entail anything but caste which bestows or withdraws the privilege of education on a person by birth. Thus, Vidyasagar explicitly advocated for confining education to “higher classes”.[17]
Earlier in 1854, Vidyasagar had scoffed at the admission of a wealthy man from the goldsmith caste of Bengal i
