Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Indian educator and social reformer
Died when: 70 years 306 days (850 months)Star Sign: Libra
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE (Bengali: ????? ?????? ??????????; 26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), born Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century.
His efforts to simplify and modernise Bengali prose were significant.He also rationalised and simplified the Bengali alphabet and type, which had remained unchanged since Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first (wooden) Bengali type in 1780.
He was the most prominent campaigner for Hindu widow remarriage, petitioning the Legislative Council despite severe opposition, including a counter petition (by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha) which had nearly four times as many signatures.
Even though widow remarriage was considered a flagrant breach of Hindu customs and was staunchly opposed, Lord Dalhousie personally finalised the bill and the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed.
A weekly newspaper, Somprakash, was started on 15 November 1858 (1 Agrahayan 1265 BS) by Dwarakanath Vidyabhusan.Dwarakanath (1819-1886) was a professor of Sanskrit college in Calcutta.
The original plan was mooted by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891), who continued to advise Dwarakanath in editorial matters.He was also associated as secretary with Hindu Female School which later came to be known as Bethune Female School.
He so excelled in his undergraduate studies of Sanskrit and philosophy that Sanskrit College in Calcutta, where he studied, gave him the honorable title "Vidyasagar" ("Ocean of Knowledge"; from Sanskrit, Vidya "knowledge" and Sagar "ocean").
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