{"id":372784,"date":"2026-09-28T18:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=372784"},"modified":"2026-09-28T18:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:25:25","slug":"ishwar-chandra-vidyasagar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ishwar-chandra-vidyasagar\/","title":{"rendered":"Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>News:<\/strong> The nation is paying homage on September 26 to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasaga on his 207th birth anniversary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">About Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 313px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTtgRyI_1UVkzT2-Qa6EBysZVpixAWuvQw67NU8x2iglwj68iLBp0hW08J_&amp;s=10\" alt=\" Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar\" width=\"313\" height=\"393\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: News On Air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar<\/strong> was an Indian educator and social reformer considered the father of Bengali prose.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He was born on<strong> 26 September 1820 at Birsingha in Paschim Medinipur district in West Bengal.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He was born into a poor Brahmin family.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">His real name was <strong>Iswarchandra Bandopadhyay.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He had displayed an exceptional thirst for knowledge from an early age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Later years:<\/strong> He spent over <strong>12 years at Sanskrit College in Calcutta,<\/strong> where he studied Sanskrit grammar, literature, Vedanta philosophy, logic, astronomy and Hindu law.\n<ul>\n<li>In recognition of his remarkable scholarship, he was bestowed with the title <strong>\u201cVidyasagar,\u201d meaning \u201cOcean of Learning,\u201d at the young age of 21.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He\u00a0studied<strong> English literature and philosophy<\/strong> and was appointed <strong>principal of Sanskrit College on January 22, 1851.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He was also the <strong>first Secretary of Bethune School<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Contribution:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Education:<\/strong> Through his celebrated book <strong>Borno Porichoy (Introduction to the Letters)<\/strong>, he <strong>simplified the Bengali language<\/strong> and made it accessible to ordinary people.\n<ul>\n<li>His most enduring contributions were as an <strong>educationist and social reformer<\/strong>, particularly in <strong>challenging the traditional practices of upper-caste Hindu society. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Women<\/strong> <strong>remained at the centre <\/strong>of his reform efforts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Child marriage:<\/strong> He devoted much of his life to opposing <strong>child marriage<\/strong> and advocating <strong>widow remarriage<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>In a paper written in 1850, he launched<strong> a strong critique of the practice of marrying girls at the age of 10<\/strong> or even younger.<\/li>\n<li>He highlighted the <strong>social, ethical and health-related problems associated with the practice and questioned the validity of the Dharma Shastras<\/strong> that supported it.<\/li>\n<li>He also drew upon <strong>scriptures and ancient commentaries<\/strong> to <strong>argue in favour of widow remarriage<\/strong>, asserting that the <strong>\u201csastras explicitly sanction their remarriage.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Widow remarriage: <\/strong>In <strong>1855<\/strong>, Vidyasagar <strong>published two influential tracts<\/strong> on the <strong>Marriage of Hindu Widows.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>On October 14, 1855, he submitted a <strong>petition to the Government of India, <\/strong>urging it to consider<strong> passing a law to remove the obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu widows<\/strong> and to recognize the children born from such marriages as legitimate.<\/li>\n<li>On July 16, 1856, the <strong>Hindu Widows\u2019 Remarriage Act, also known as Act XV,<\/strong> was passed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Polygamy: <\/strong>He also campaigned <strong>against polygamy<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>In 1857, a petition with <strong>25,000 signatures<\/strong> sought to prohibit polygamy among Kulin Brahmins.<\/li>\n<li>A second petition, backed by <strong>21,000 signatures<\/strong>, followed in 1866.<\/li>\n<li>In the 1870s, Vidyasagar argued that polygamy, lacking scriptural sanction, should be <strong>prohibited by law<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>He played a significant role in <strong>establishing several educational institutions<\/strong>, including the <strong>Metropolitan Institution (now Vidyasagar College) in 1872.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He also set up <strong>20 model schools<\/strong> across <strong>Kolkata, Midnapore, Burdwan and Nadia,<\/strong> providing quality education to students irrespective of their social background.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Notable work:<\/strong> Among his works are<strong> Borno Porichoy (1855), Betal Panchabinsati (1847),Sitar Bonobas (1860) and\u00a0\u00a0Shakuntala (1854).<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Other notable work:<\/strong> Vidyasagar\u2019s literary and social reform writings include <strong>Banglar Itihaas (1848), Jivancharita (1849), Mahabharata (1860), Seetar Vanavas (1860), Bhrantivilaas (1869), Oti Alpa Hoilo (1873), Aabaar Oti Alpa Hoilo (1873), Brajavilaas (1884), and Ratnopariksha (1886).<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">His important works on social reform include <strong>Bidhobabivah (1855),<\/strong> advocating widow remarriage;<strong> Bahubivah (1871)<\/strong>, opposing polygamy; and <strong>Balyabivah,<\/strong> which criticised child marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">He passed away on <strong>29 July 1891<\/strong>, leaving behind a lasting legacy of <strong>knowledge, compassion, education, and social reform<\/strong> in the service of nation-building.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The nation is paying homage on September 26 to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasaga on his 207th birth anniversary. About Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was an Indian educator and social reformer considered the father of Bengali prose. He was born on 26 September 1820 at Birsingha in Paschim Medinipur district in West Bengal. He&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ishwar-chandra-vidyasagar\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11212,12039,11210],"tags":[11872,12085],"class_list":["post-372784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-history-and-art-culture-in-news","category-knolls","category-personalities-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-news-on-air","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}