Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

                             Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar-

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in a Bengali 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 the present-day Hooghly district. At 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 comfortably in no time. Bhagabat's youngest daughter Raimoni's motherly and affectionate feelings towards Ishwar touched him deeply. They had a strong influence on his later revolutionary work towards the upliftment of women's status in India. He championed the cause of female education. He is considered the "Father of Bengali prose

                                                                        -Key Note-

Native name -ঈশ্বরচন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর(Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay)

Born - 26 September 1820

Birsingha, Bengal Presidency, Company Raj

(now in West Bengal, India)

Died- 29 July 1891 (aged 70)

Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India

(now Kolkata, West Bengal, India)

Occupation- Educator, social reformer and author

Language- Bengali

Nationality- Indian

Alma mater- Sanskrit College (1828–1839)

Literary movement- Bengal Renaissance

Notable works -Widow remarriage, women's education, the introduction of punctuation marks in the Bengali language

Spouse- Dinamayee Devi

Children- 1 (Narayan Chandra Bandopadhyay)

Widow Remarriage Act-

Consent to the remarriage of the major widow. -In the case of a widow who is of full age, or whose marriage has been consummated, her own consent shall be sufficient consent to constitute her remarriage lawful and valid.

Opposing Spread of Education beyond Higher Classes-

The 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 society to the common masses.

In 1859, the government's education policy reiterated "the spread of vernacular elementary instruction among the lower orders".Upon this, Vidyasagar addressed a letter, dated 29 September 1859, to John Peter Grant, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, underlining his perception: