Question

Who was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar? What were his contributions as a social reformer?

Answer 1

Hint: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar introduced the punctuation mark in the Bengali language.He was one of the prominent faces in the struggles for the demand of widow remarriage.

Complete answer:
-Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was an Indian educator and social reformer.
-Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was widely known for his efforts to simplify and modernize the Bengali prose.
-He also tried to rationalise and simplify the Bengali alphabets and types. Though this effort did not reach its goal as Charles Winkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first Bengali type in 1780.
-He was born as Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay on 26th September 1820 in Birsingha, Bengal presidency,British India.
-He died on 29th July 1891 at the age of 70 in Calcutta, Bengal presidency, British India.
-By occupation he was an educator, a social reformer and an author and by nationality he was a Bengali Indian.
-One of his widely known works was the introduction of punctuation marks in the Bengali language.
-He was a prominent campaigner for Hindu widow remarriage and also petitioned legislative council.
-He was given the title Vidyasagar from his alma mater Sanskrit college Calcutta for his excellency in Sanskrit and philosophy.
-The University named as Vidyasagar University founded by the Cambridge mathematician Anil Kumar Jain was named after Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in his honour.

Note: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar has an intense quest for knowledge. He used to study on the street light as he could not afford a gas lamp. He was a genius and cleared all the examinations in quick succession. He was awarded with various scholarships during his academic career.