আমাদের বাঙালি আইকন | আমাদের গৌরব
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VIDYASAGAR NANDAN KANAN (VSRS)
Vidyasagar & Nandan Kanan
Jharkhand has the rare privilege that Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar the father figure of Bengali Script and Bengali language choose Karmatand to live last 18 years of his life. ‘Nandan Kanan’, was the name of his abode at Karmatand. He not only lived with santhals at Karmatand, but tried to up lift their social structure. He started the first formal school for santhal girls, possibly the first girl’s school of our country. He opened a free Homeopathy clinic to provide some medical care to these unprivileged tribal people. He also tried to educate the adults of the Tribal population. He was worshipped like God by tribal population. Vidyasagar was a well-known writer, intellectual and above all a staunch follower of humanity. He brought a revolution in the education system of Bengal. Vidyasagar refined the Bengali language and made it accessible to the common strata of the society. The title 'Vidyasagar' (ocean of knowledge) was given to him due to his vast knowledge in almost all the subjects. Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta while writing about Ishwar Chandra said: "The genius and wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother".
Life & Education
Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyaya was born on Monday the 26th of September 1820 (12 Aswin Bengali Year 1227) in a village called Veersingha of the then Hoogley (now part of Midnapore) district of West Bengal. Vidyasagar spent his childhood in extreme poverty. But poverty did not touch his soul, nor could it deter him from his chosen path of achieving his life's goals. His father Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and mother Bhagavati Devi were very religious persons. Ishwar Chandra was a brilliant student. His quest for knowledge was so intense that he used to study on street light as it was not possible for him to afford a gas lamp at home. In the year 1839, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar successfully cleared his Law examination. In 1841, at the age of twenty one years, Ishwar Chandra joined the Fort William College as a head of the Sanskrit department.
Reforms
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar initiated the concept of widow remarriage and raised concern for the abolition of child-marriage and polygamy. He also opened the doors of the colleges and other educational institutions to lower caste students, which was earlier reserved only for the Brahmins. For his immense generosity and kind heartedness, people started addressing him as "Dayar Sagar" (ocean of kindness). There are very few living Bengali soul on this planet today who has not heard of Vidyasagar or has not commenced the process of education with his first book of alphabet (Part I and Part II) called Varna Porichoy first published in
