Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

The great scholar and reformer, Vidyasagar’s ideas were a happy blend of Indian and Western thought. He believed in high moral values, was a deep humanist and was generous to the poor. In 1850, he became the principal of Sanskrit College. He was determined to break the priestly monopoly of scriptural knowledge, and for this he opened the Sanskrit College to non-brahmins. He introduced Western thought in Sanskrit College to break the self-imposed isolation of Sanskritic learning. As an academician, he evolved a new methodology to teach Sanskrit. He also devised a new Bengali primer and evolved a new prose style.

Vidyasagar started a movement in support of widow remarriage which resulted in legalisation of widow remarriage. He was also a crusader against child marriage and polygamy. He did much for the cause of women’s education. As government inspector of schools, he helped organise thirty- five girls’ schools many of which he ran at his own expense. As secretary of Bethune School (established in 1849), he was one of the pioneers of higher education for women in India.

The Bethune School, founded in Calcutta, was the result of the powerful movement for women’s education that arose in the 1840s and 1850s. The movement had to face great difficulties. The young students were shouted at and abused and, sometimes, even their parents subjected to social boycott. Many believed that girls who had received Western education would make slaves of their husbands.