Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
First appointment in the Sanskrit College,
In the course of his tenure of office in the Fort William College, Vidyasagar made an intimate acquaintance not only of European Civilians, but also of many respectable natives of this country. He had, about this time, made himself familiar with Raja Krishna Nath, husband of the munificent Maharani Swarnamayi of Cossimbazar. The officers of the Cossimbazar Raj estate treated him with much respect. In the year 1847, in the deceased Raja Krishna Nath's Will Case, one Nabin Chandra, a witness, deposed in Court to that effect.
Subsequently he had such a familiar acquaintance with the Raj family, and even with Maharani Swarnamayi herself, that he did not feel it humiliating to borrow money occasionally of the Maharani. On the one hand, as Vidyasagar helped the officers of the Raj estate with counsels and in various other forms, so, on the other hand, he received aid from the Maharani in different shapes. We shall have occasion to refer to the matter hereafter.
In 1846, Vidyasagar had to resign his office in the Fort William College. A few days before this, the post of the Assistant Secretary to the Sanskrit College had fallen vacant, on the death of Ram Manikya Vidyalankar, who had been holding the post for some time past. Babu Rassamay Dutt was still the Secretary to the College. He was a great appreciator of merits. He had known Vidyasagar since he was a student in the Sanskrit College. He firmly believed, that if Vidyasagar could be made Assistant Secretary, he would be able to turn the College, into good account, and make much improvement in all directions. But Rassomoy Babu saw one great difficulty in his way. The pay attached to this post was only 50 rupees, the same as Vidyasagar's pay in the Fort William College, and Rassomoy Babu doubted whether Vidyasagar could be induced to leave the Fort William College and join the Sanskrit College on the same pay. But he hoped for the best. He was firmly determined to take Vidyasagar under him. On the 28th March, 1846, he wrote a letter to Dr. F. J. Mouat, the then Secretary to the Education Council, earnestly requesting him to appoint Vidyasagar to the post of the Assistant Secretary to the Sanskrit College, and, at the same time, to increase the pay of the post. Among other things, he distinctly stated in his letter, that unless the pay was raised, it would be difficult to find a qualified man of Vidyasagar's attainments. Along with this letter, he sent on Vidyasagar's application, accompanied with his testimonials.
On the other hand, Dr. Mouat himself was on the look-out for a qualified man to fill up the vacancy, and he consulted Mr. Marshall of the Fort William College, as usual with him, on all important matters, on this point. Mr. Marshall at once recommended Vidyasagar. Dr. Mouat was pleased at the two recommendtions for Vidyasagar, from two sides for he personally knew him sufficiently well. He, therefore, very gladly appointed him to the vacant post, but did not, at that time, raise his pay. The purport of Dr. Mouat's letter to Rassomoy Babu, dated the 2nd April, 1846, was that he was glad to appoint Vidyasagar to the post of the Assistant Secretary to the Sanskrit College, but was sorry that he was then unable to increase his pay, which might be subsequently raised on approved service. A copy of this letter was also sent to Vidyasagar on the 4th of the same month. Rassomoy Babu now urged our hero to accept the post. "Vidyasagar," said he, "if you accept the post, the College is sure to rise, and when the College rises, your pay must rise too." Vidyasagar saw the force and soundness of Rassomoy Babu's reasoning, and, what with prospects of increment of his pay, and what with a desire to oblige Rassomoy Babu, he accepted the post of the Assistant Secretary to the Sanskrit College, and joined his new appointment in a few days.
Before leaving the Fort William College, he called on Mr. Marshall, and, among other things, said:—'Sir, if there should be friction of opinion, or disagreement of any kind, I shall have to resign my post there, for it is quite against my nature to tolerate injustice or anything of the kind, for the sake of my private interest. I am not anxious on my own account, but I am afraid, lest my dear father should suffer want, or feel any inconvenience, when I am thrown out of employment. I would, therefore, request you to take in my younger brother to my present post. He is a good scholar and well-qualified for the office.' Dinabandhu Nyayratna, Vidyasagar's younger brother, was accordingly appointed Head Pandit of the Fort William College.
The Sanskrit College of those days was very different from what it is at the present time. Everything in the College was irregular. Neither the professors, nor the students, observed any regularity of time in attending and leaving the College. They came to the College and left it at their pleasure. Most of the teachers, though not all of them, spent the first part of the day in sweet slumber, and lectured their pupils only in the latter part. Vidyasagar's first business, on joining his appointment, was to deprive the teachers of the enjoyment of their sweet sleep during college hours. His next business was to prescribe fixed hours at which the teachers and the students must attend and leave the college. It is said that, in order to enforce the punctual attendance of the professors, Vidyasagar devised a novel plan. One day, seeing that the teachers were not come at the proper time, he went to the outer gates of the college-building and began to pace up and down in front of them. Pandit Bharat Chandra Siromani, the best and most learned professor of the College, thus addressed the other teachers:—"You see, friends, our late attendance, is no more to be tolerated. Vidyasagar indirectly warns us." From the next day, all the teachers were punctual, none came late. The students of the college had been used to go out of, and return to, their classes at their pleasure, during college hours. For them Vidyasagar introduced the pass system. No one was allowed to leave his class without a pass. Before Vidyasagar's time, everybody acted according to his sweet will, but Vidyasagar prescribed a rule that the permission of the Secretary must be obtained in every case. In short, Vidyasagar remodelled and regulated almost everything. But still there were some defects left. No perfection can be accomplished in a short time. He expunged all obscene texts from the books prescribed for the students of the college. He introduced a novel plan of teaching Grammar; under which the acquisition of Sanskrit Grammar, which had so long been very tedious and disagreeable, was rendered easy and agreeable to the students. He devised a new system of conducting the examination, which had the effect of making that year's result highly satisfactory to Dr. Mouat. He introduced Mathematics into the Belles-lettres class. In short, he brought about changes and improvements in almost all respects. The rules and regulations instituted by him are still in force, and display Vidyasagar's keen intellect and thoughtfulness.
Some time after he had entered into the service of the Sanskrit College, he had a friction with Mr. Karr, the then Principal of the Hindu College. One day, he had an occasion to see the Principal on business. When Vidyasagar entered his room, he was reclining in his easy chair, with his legs upon a table. Perhaps, the white European gentleman did not cherish very generous feelings for the black natives of the soil. He neither received his visitor, nor offered him a seat. He did not even think fit to take down his legs from the table. Vidyasagar very naturally resented the ill-treatment of the European, but he was quite helpless at the time. He had gone on urgent business, and could not leave the place without finishing it. No sooner was the business done, than he left the presence of the haughty European. But he was a man of manly spirit, and he looked out for opportunities to be revenged upon Mr. Karr, who had offered him so great an insult. He was not long in finding one. In a few days, Mr. Karr had an occasion to call on Vidyasagar on business. Now, thought Vidyasagar, was the time to teach the haughty European a good lesson. When Mr. Karr's card was presented to him, he placed his slippered legs upon the table in his front, and lay reclining in his chair, in a half recumbent posture. When he had thus seated himself, he directed Mr. Karr to be ushered in. There was no seat for the visitor; he had removed all the extra seats previously. Mr. Karr was highly offended at such unmannerly conduct on the part of a native, and as soon as his business was finished, he left the place in great wrath.
Mr. Karr reported Vidyasagar's improper conduct towards himself to Dr. Mouat, the Secretary to the Educational Council, who called on Vidyasagar for an explanation. The explanation, submitted by him, was rather novel and curious. The purport of what he said was,—'I thought that we (i. e. natives) were an uncivilised race, quite unacquainted with refined manners of receiving a gentleman visitor. I learned the manners, of which Mr. Karr complains, from the gentleman himself, a few days ago, when I had an occasion to call on him. My notions of refined manners being thus formed from the conduct of an enlightened, civilised European, I behaved myself as respectfully towards him, as he had himself done. I do not think that, in this matter, I am to blame in the least. Dr. Mouat was highly pleased at Vidyasagar's keen sense of self-respect and manly spirit. He requested Mr. Karr to have an interview with Vidyasagar, and settle the matter amicably, which the former did not fail to do. This manly spirit and fearless conduct of Vidyasagar gained him the victory almost everywhere.
Vidyasagar was always a great appreciator of merits. While he was still Assistant Secretary to the Sanskrit College, the post of the professor of Belles-lettres fell vacant. Babu Rassomoy Dutt, Secretary to the College, and Dr. Mouat, Secretary to the Education Council, both urged Vidyasagar to accept the post. Though the pay of this office was higher than what he was then getting, he declined the offer. His idea was, that if he accepted the post, he would lose his influence, and would thus be deprived of all opportunities of introducing reforms into the College. He secured the post to Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, one of his class-friends, whom he knew to be fully qualified for the office, in the manner already stated in a former chapter. It is said, that before the vacancy was filled up permanently, one Sarvananda Vidyavagis, an old man, had been acting as officiating professor of Belles-lettres. Some expressed their desire to see the old man made permanent. But Vidyasagar was quite against the idea. There were two reasons for it. The first was that the man spent a great part of his college hours in sweet sleep, and the other was that Madan Mohan Tarkalankar was far more qualified than Sarvananda Vidyavagis. It was quite against Vidyasagar's nature to show undue favour in the discharge of his public duties.
About this time, a great calamity befel Vidyasagar. His fourth brother, Hara Chandra, a lad of 12 years, had come to Calcutta to prosecute his studies. This boy was the most intelligent of all the brothers, and was, therefore, a great favourite with Vidyasagar. Shortly after his arrival, he was seized with Cholera, which took him away from this vicious world. Vidyasagar's grief at the untimely death of his beloved brother was excessive. He was so much afflicted, that for several months he hardly ate anything or slept in the night. His health broke down. When the sad news of her dear little son's death reached the unfortunate mother, her grief knew no bounds. She was quite disconsolate. She gave up food and sleep, and wept day and night. Vidyasagar sent his brother, Dinabandhu, with the other younger brothers, to his mournful, disconsolate mother to console her. After the lapse of nearly six months, when the keenness and severity of her grief had somewhat lessened, Vidyasagar again fetched his brothers back to Calcutta.
Some time after this mournful incident, Vidyasagar had a great disagreeable friction with Rassomoy Babu. The cause of this sad disagreement was that, the mode of instruction instituted by him did not meet with the Secretary's approbation. When Vidyasagar saw that his official superior had begun to oppose his measures and policy, he resigned his office. Both Babu Rassomoy Dutt and Dr. Mouat tried their best to persuade him not to resign, but the firm and resolute Vidyasagar would not move a hair from his determination. His friends and relations remonstrated with him strongly on what they considered as a rash, hasty step on his part, but Vidyasagar was a man of great spirit and fixedness of purpose, and he would not yield in the slightest degree. They were all very anxious about him as to how he would manage to maintain his large family. His idea was, he said, that he would rather turn a peddler of potatoes and other vegetables, or open an ordinary grocer's shop, than work in a post which was damaging to his dignity and self-respect. It was quite against his nature to blindly obey any one, or depend on another, or look for favours by flattery. He came into this world to leave a high model of noble heroism, for the benefit of his fellow-brethren.
He never lost heart, or was dejected for a single moment, at the loss of his appointment. He was never heard to regret the step he had taken. He was as cheerful as ever. He did not send away the many poor school boys, whom he had given shelter in his own house and whom he had been providing with food and clothes. He managed to defray the maintenance of his Calcutta family by the 50 rupees which his brother, Dinabandhu, earned from the Fort William College. For the support of his Birsingha family, he had to borrow 50 rupees every month and remit it to his father. In this way Vidyasagar struggled with his difficulties manfully, yet he never thought fit to condescend to meanness and flattery.
He did not re-enter into any service till March 1849. The intervening period he devoted to the acquisition of English and Hindi. He acquired a greater proficiency in the two languages than before. While he was thus out of employment, he was engaged for several months, at the request of Dr. Mouat, in giving private lessons to a European gentleman, Captain Bank, in Sanskrit, Bengali and Hindi. When the captain had finished his course of instruction, he offered Vidyasagar tuitionfee at the rate of 50 rupees a month, for several months together. But the noble-minded Vidyasagar, poor as he was, generously declined the offer. He said to the Captain:—'You are a friend of Dr. Mouat's, who is also a great friend of mine. I came to give you lessons at the request of our mutual friend. I can accept no fee from you.' Such was Vidyasagar's greatness and strength of mind. He was, at that time, in great pecuniary difficulties. Three or four hundred rupees, would have gone a great way to remove his embarrassments, yet he felt delicacy in receiving the money, simply because, he thought, it would be contrary to the rules of friendship.