Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work/Chapter 4

by Subal Chandra Mitra

CHAPTER IV.

ADMISSION INTO THE SANSKRIT COLLEGE.

Isvar Chandra was admitted into the the Sanskrit College on the first day of June, 1829. The chief aim of the College till then, and some time after, since its establishment, was to diffuse Sanskrit education. English was not then compulsory. It was optional. Very few boys took up English as a second language, and it was taught only meagrely. From this, it seems that the authorities had Sanskrit most at heart and that their object was to impart Sanskrit education to the exclusion of English. Whatever their object might be, practically English was excluded from the curriculum of the College.

The mode of imparting instruction, too, adopted in this seminary, at that time, was wholly indigenous. There were no benches for the pupils, no chairs for the teachers. Only Brahman and other Dvija (twice-born) boys were allowed to enter the College. The pupils had to sit on mats spread upon the floor, and their teachers sat opposite to them, reclining on heavy pillows, as is the practice in tols.

The Sanskrit College of Calcutta was established in the year 1824. At the time of its foundation, Raja Ram Mohan Ray, the founder of the modern Brahma faith, and the first Hindu native of Bengal, who dared leave the shores of India and cross the ocean, and who has immortalised himself in the pages of history as the first Hindu native of India, who raised his hand against the practice, then obtaining in this country, of burning living Satis in the funeral pyres of their dead husbands, and some other influential men of the time, who had got English education and imbibed Western notions and civilisation, raised many objections in its way. Their chief contentions were that what the country needed, was not a separate Sanskrit College, but an English College on a sound basis for instruction of European Arts and Sciences, in as much as there were a good many tols in Bengal, where Sanskrit was well taught. On the other hand, the other party argued that there was already the Hindu College for English instruction, that there was no good institution for Sanskrit education, and that the Hindus were in urgent need of such a seminary as would teach Sanskrit in all its branches more systematically. Raja Ram Mohan was deeply disappointed at the failure of his attempts^[1]

The Hindu College, of which mention has been made before, was seven years older than the Sanskrit College, No doubt, the students of the Hindu College learnt English well, and gained a good knowledge of the Arts and Sciences of Europe, but they had one great failing. They saw that the English were a most powerful and civilised nation, and were masters of the soil. Their idea, therefore, was that whatever the English did, was good. Most surely, the English possess many good qualities, but they are men, and have their faults too. In their endeavours to imitate the English and other Europeans, the students of the Hindu College failed to imbibe any of their good qualities, but merely copied their frailties and evil practices. They forsook their national customs, and took to European manners in many respect. They cast aside Dhuti and Chadar, their national dress, and dressed themselves in trousers and coats. They even took pride in drinking wine and spirits, and in eating beef, the restricted food of the Hindus. They considered their fathers no better than barbarians, and treated them accordingly. They were thus an eyesore to the orthodox Hindu community, who were deeply pained at this state of things, and yearned for a school, where Hindu boys might obtain a decent education, without losing their nationality. Thus originated the Sanskrit College, and, perhaps, this was one of the reasons, which led the orthodox Hindu, Thakurdas, to alter his mind, and forego his former design of sending his son, Isvar Chandra, to the Hindu College.

Isvar Chandra was admitted to the third form of the Vyakaran (Grammar) class of the Sanskrit College. Sanskrit grammar is the door to Sanskrit knowledge. Without a perfect mastery of this subject, one can have no sound knowledge of the Sanskrit literature. It is, therefore, that a student of this ancient tongue has first of all to apply himself to the study of Grammar. There are many books on the subject, of which Mugdhabodha, Kalap, Sankshiptasar, and Panini stand foremost, and a student of Sanskrit must take up any one of these. Sankshiptasar was selected for Isvar Chandra, because his father, Thakurdas, had some knowledge of the book, as he had read a great part of it in his early years, and, he thought, he would thus be able to give some help to his son in his home study. Isvar Chandra had to repeat, every night, to his father what he had learnt of Grammar in his college-class in the day. As we have said before, Pandit Gangadhar Tarkavagis of Kumarhatta was one of the professors of Grammar in the Sanskrit College, and Isvar Chandra was placed in his hands. We give below, in passing, a full list of the learned professors, then engaged on the instructive staff of the College. Grammar-Gangadhar Tarkavagis, Hari Prasad Tarkalankar, and Haranath Tarkabhushan. Rhetoric—Nathu Ram Sastri; Smriti (Hindu law) Ram Chandra Vidyavagis; Philosophy—Nimchand Siromani; Vedanta—(Theology) Sambhu Chandra Vachaspati; Belles-lettres—Jay Gopal Tarkalankar; Astronomy—Yogadhyan Misra; Ayurved (Hindu medicine)—Kshudiram Visarad. These were the best Sanskrit scholars of the time, and were selected by Professor Wilson for the Sanskrit College; at the time of its foundation. Gangadhar Tarkavagis was exceedingly pleased at the uncommon intelligence displayed by young Isvar Chandra, and loved his little pupil dearly. In addition to the usual daily lessons in grammar, the professor used to teach him, every day, some Udbhat Slokas (extempore verses composed at different times by different bards), of which there are an infinite number in the Sanskrit language.

To attend his school, Isvar Chandra had to walk from Barabazar, the residence of Jagaddurlabh Babu, where he was putting up, to Pataldanga, where the Sanskrit College was located, a distance of over two miles. For the first six months, his father, Thakurdas, used daily to accompany him to school at nine o'clock in the morning, and again bring him back at four in the evening, for fear lest the little boy should miss his way. This had also the effect of preventing him from mixing with bad boys, who loitered on their way, or wasted time in seeing sights, or doing mischievous deeds of different kinds. At the end of the six months, he won a scholarship of five rupees a month. When he was familiar with the roads he had to pass, and had a sufficient knowledge of the boys he was to keep from, he was left to walk to the College by himself.

In his early years, Isvar Chandra was a dwarf, that is to say, he was not tall to his age. His stature was diminutive, but his head was larger in proportion to the other limbs. His school-fellows, therefore, humorously gave him the nickname of Jasure Kai (i. e. the Kai fish of Jessore)^[2], at which Isvar Chandra used to be greatly annoyed. The boys were much amused at his futile rage. Sometimes, by a wilful misplacement of the sounds J and K, they called him Kasure Jai, instead of Jasure Kai, and then he was provoked to the extreme. But he could not give utterance to a single syllable, as he was a great stammerer, at that time. Had the boys been able to foresee that this little large-headed dwarf, whom they thus nicknamed jocosely, would become such a great man in after years, they would never have ventured to tease and annoy him in this fashion.

Thakurdas was a man of rigour and irritable temperament. It has been mentioned before, that what Isvar Chandra read in his class in the day, he had to repeat, every night, to his father. If he ever missed a single word or syllable, he had to receive a good thrashing from the hands of Thakurdas. Even at this young age he had to sit up a great part of the night. His father returned home from his place of business at nine o'clock in the evening, and after that, he cooked food for himself and his son. All this time Isvar Chandra had to read his lessons, or repeat them to his father. If accidentally he fell asleep, either from exhaustion, or any other cause, his father was sure to thrash him. The beating was sometimes so severe, that the other inmates of the house were aroused by the loud, pitiful cries of the little boy, when the kind Raimani, Jagaddurlabh Babu's sister, mentioned above, hastened from her inner apartments, and saved Isvar Chandra from further chastisement. It is said that, on one occasion, Thakurdas beat his son so severely with a huge fire-wood, that lay close by, that Isvar Chandra fled from the house, and took shelter with Babu Ramdhan Ganguli, the then clerk of the Sanskrit College. Ramdhan Babu comforted the boy by kind and gentle words, and after feeding him, took him to his father. When the tale of this incident reached Jagaddurlabh Babu's ears, he was very sorry and displeased with Thakurdas. He remonstrated with Isvar Chandra's father on the impropriety of his conduct, and even threatened to remove him from his house, if he continued to beat the little boy so heavily. This had the desired chastening effect on the father, who henceforth lessened the severity of his treatment towards the boy. Isvar Chandra, too, grew every day more careful. He took great care to keep himself awake till his father slept. For this purpose, he poured into his eyes mustard-oil, which caused them a great irritation, and prevented them from closing their lids.

Isvar Chandra studied in the Grammar department for three years. In the first two years, he stood first at the annual examinations, and won prizes. But, in the third year, he neither topped the list, nor secured any prizes. Isvar Chandra was so much disappointed and dejected at this, that he even thought of quitting the College and prosecuting his studies in a Tol. No wonder. Every one knew that he was the best boy in the class, and toiled hard, day and night, for the examination. What was then the cause of his failure? Some say, that Mr. Price, a European, was appointed examiner of Grammar for that year. The examination was conducted orally. Whatever questions were put to Isvar Chandra, he took time to weigh them carefully in his mind, and then made answers slowly, but correctly, without committing a single blunder. But this was a fault in the eyes of Mr. Price, or he himself was unable to grasp the full meaning of what Isvar Chandra said. Whatever that might be, the examiner gave more marks to those boys, who answered the questions with readiness and promptness, though their answers were defective or wrong.

After much persuasion, Isvar Chandra was induced to come back to the College. The next six months he devoted to the study of Amarkosh (a Sanskrit Dictionary, which every student of Sanskrit must learn by heart, before he begins the Belles-lettres). At this time, Isvar Chandra's waywardness and obstinateness showed themselves clearly. What is considered to be a fault in ordinary men, turns to good account in the case of those who are gifted with extraordinary talents. Such was the case with Isvar Chandra. He was zealous, enthusiastic, and obstinate. He chose to be guided by nobody but his own will. He did not care for what other people said or would say. Menaces and threats, or even punishment, could not move him a single step from his design. If his father told him to change his dirty clothes and put on clean ones, he would act quite the contrary. If his father told him to bathe, he would never do it. In short, if his father told him to go one way, Isvar Chandra was sure to take the other. Thakurdas was very much annoyed at this wilful waywardness of the boy, and beat him severely; but Isvar Chandra would have his own way. Thakurdas then devised other means. He gave out in words directions quite contrary to what he really meant. If he wished that the boy should bathe, he directed him not to bathe, and Isvar Chandra would be sure to wash himself. If the father wished his son to change his dirty clothes, he told him not to change them, and Isvar Chandra at once put on a clean dress. But, at last, the boy found out the tricks played upon him by his father, and then he very carefully weighed the directions, and tried to discover what the father really wished, determining always to go against his wishes. This stubbornness of mind, which formed a principal element of his character, ripening with age, was productive of many noble deeds, for which Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar's name will be ever remembered with grateful reverence.

The stubbornness of Isvar Chandra reminds us of the stubbornness of Johnson in his early years. It is said of Jhonson that in his childhood, a servant used daily to accompany him to and from school. One day, the servant was a little too late, and Johnson walked out of the school by himself. The governess being apprised of this, ran after the child, for fear lest he should miss his way and fall into some trouble. When Johnson found, that he was followed by the governess, his pride was touched, that she must have been doubtful of his powers. He was so much provoked at what he considered to be a deliberate affront on the part of the governess, that he retraced his steps, came back to school, and struck her. This stubbornness was very conspicuous in Johnson's after-life.

When Isvar Chandra entered the Belles-lettres class, he was only eleven years old.^[3] Besides, he was not sufficiently tall for his age. The teacher of this class, Jay Gopal Tarkalankar objected to take him into his class, and stated that so little a boy would not be able to comprehend the meaning of the Sanskrit poems. The pride of Isvar Chandra was touched. He requested the teacher to examine him on the subject, and then to take him if he was considered fit, as otherwise he must leave the College. Jay Gopal Tarkalankar gave him a few Slokas (stanzas) from Bhatti (a very difficult poem) to explain, which the boy paraphrased and explained very creditably. There could now be no objection to take the little boy. He was accordingly admitted into this class.

We have forgotten to mention, that in the second year of his Grammar class, Isvar Chandra had also enrolled himself as a student of English. We have already noticed briefly what the state of English instruction was, at that time, in the Sanskrit College. Very few students applied to it with due diligence. Isvar Chandra read in the English class for only six months, and then gave it over. But Isvar Chandra repented of it in after years, and he had to toil hard to obtain a little knowledge of the English language.

Now, let us see how he fared in the Belles-lettres department. In the first year, he studied Raghuvangsa, Kumar-sambhava and Raghava-Pandaviya. At the annual examination of this class, he headed the list of successful students, and won the first prize. In the second year, he read Magha, Bharavi, Sakuntala, Meghduta, Uttaracharita, Vikramorvvasi, Kadambari, Dasakumarchrita, Mudrarakshasa, and other poetical and dramatical works. At the annual examination of this class, he stood first and won the best prizes. Most of these works, both poetical and dramatical, he had learnt by heart and could repeat with wonderful accuracy. He was best at Translation. Even at this early age of twelve, he could speak Sanskrit and Prakrita correctly and fluently. Not only his teachers and class-fellows, but all the pundits of the time were amazed at the wonderful powers of the intelligent, little boy. Was not Isvar Chandra talented?

We have already stated that from his childhood, Isvar Chandra wrote a very good hand. He was one of the best writers in the College. Every year, he won prizes for good hand-writing. Everybody admired his penmanship. He copied, with his own hand, many Sanskrit books for himself, and the penmanship of these books, even to the present day, appears as if it were a fine wool-work executed by some skilful hand. Very few literary men have been able to win such universal praise in all respects.

We now come to that part of little Isvar Chandra's life, where he had to struggle hard to be able to keep pace with, nay to excel, his College rivals. The adverse circumstances, under which he had to carry his point would, no doubt, damp the spirit of ordinary people, and make them forego their design. But Isvar Chandra was far above the ordinary rank. He had an uncommon strength of mind and fixedness of purpose. He had many obstacles in his way, but he overcame them with manly spirit and easy alacrity. The difficulties and troubles rather served to encourage him the more. He has shown to the world that poverty is no hindrance to the attainment of an object. He has left an unparalleled example of noble heroism for the poverty-stricken. With such a precedent before one's eyes, one cannot lose heart, even under most adverse circumstances.

When Isvar Chandra was reading in the second year class of the Belles-lettres department, his younger brother, Dina Bandhu,^[4] came to Calcutta to prosecute his studies in the Sanskrit College.

Now there were thus three members^[5] of Thakurdas's family in Calcutta, for him to maintain with his slender means, besides those that were living in Birsingha. We have already said, that Thakurdas had a very limited income. It was not, therefore, possible for him to retain a domestic or cook. Poor Isvar Chandra had to do everything. He did all the marketing and cooking. Coal had not then come into use in Calcutta for purposes of cooking, which was done by fire-wood. Little Isvar Chandra chopped the fuel-wood with his own hands. He cooked food, and distributed it to his father and brother. He did all the cleaning. In short, Isvar Chandra was both a domestic and a cook. He did not feel tired with all these daily household works, but rather performed them with his usual cheerfulness. He felt a sort of inward pride and exultation at being able to show to the world, that he was above the ordinary rank and could beat down his compeers in every respect, even under such discouraging circmustances. But the question now is, how could he make time for his studies? After all, Isvar Chandra was a man, and to learn, he must read. Mere talents would not do. Isvar Chandra was not only talented, but also industrious to the extreme. He was very assiduous, and toiled hard at his lessons, and being possessed of a retentive memory, could easily make up for lost time. He never wasted a minute. He read his books even while he was engaged in cooking. In the night, he slept only two hours. After performing the usual household duties and feeding his father and brother, he used to go to bed at 10 P. M., requesting his father, who sat up on business till 12 P. M., to arouse him (Isvar Chandra) at that hour. He read from mid-night to day-break, when he had to put aside his books, to apply himself again to the domestic duties. It is also said, that on his way to and from College, he used to read his books and ponder over his lessons.

Nor did Isvar Chandra's troubles end here. He had patiently to put up with difficulties most trying and painfnl. The readers of the present day can have no idea of the city of Calcutta of those days. The conservancy was most defective, particularly in the native quarters. The uncovered drains on two sides of the lanes were full of dirt and foul water, appearing like cess-pools, with worms of various descriptions rolling about in their midst, and mosquitoes filling the air with their peculiar songs. The houses, standing in rows by the sides of these drains, shut out the sun throughout the year, and they were therefore always damp, especially their lowest floors. The privies and cook-rooms for the tenants of the lowest floors were, for want of space, located side by side. Cock-roaches and other insects and worms abounded in them. The very sight of them was loathsome.

The lowest floor of Jagaddurlabh Babu's house, where Thakurdas lived with his sons, was not an exception to this. It was as filthy, as damp. The air in it was filled with a most offensive smell. The worms and cock-roaches from the neighbouring privies moved about freely in Isvar Chandra's cook-room. To keep the worms away, he kept a jug of water ready at hand, and whenever they approached him, he poured down some water upon them, making them recede with the water. But it was not so easy to keep back the cock-roaches. These were particularly troublesome in the night. On one occasion, it so happened that when Isvar Chandra was eating his supper in company with his father and brothers, but upon different seats on the floor, as is the custom with the Hindus of Bengal, he discovered a dead cock-roach in one of his prepared dishes. Most probably, the insect had flown into the dish, while it was in the process of being cooked, and died there. What was Isvar Chandra to do now? He foresaw, that if his father and brothers should see the loathsome insect, or hear of its existence in the dish, they would certainly give up eating, and throw their meals away. Clever Isvar Chandra, therefore, very carefully and dexterously took the insect out, and, at great risk, devoured it whole, along with a mouthful of rice. His father and brothers, quite unconscious of the matter, ate their meals as usual. After the meal was over, Isvar Chandra related the story, and every body, who heard it, was amazed at the little boy's wonderful forbearance and presence of mind.

The manner of Isvar Chandra's sleeping was not less difficult. The room in Jagaddurlabh Babu's house, where Thakurdas lodged with his sons, had a veranda attached to it, three feet in length by two feet in breadth. Isvar Chandra used to sleep in this veranda upon a mat of the same size, procured by him for the purpose. Later on, when his third brother, Sambhu Chandra, came to Calcutta to prosecute his studies, Isvar Chandra obtained permission to sleep in one of the lowest-floor rooms of a neighbouring gentleman, by name Tilak Chandra Ghosh. His brother, Sambhu Chandra, slept in the same bed with him, but being much younger, he was usually permitted to go to bed immediately after the night-meal. One night, Sambhu Chandra having a little ailment of his bowels, eased himself on the bed and lay there sleeping, without apprising anybody of it. Later in the night, Isvar Chandra, quite unconscious of his brother's indisposition, lay down on the bed, and quite exhausted with hard labour, both physical and mental, fell fast asleep. When he awoke early in the morning, he found, to his utter astonishment and disgust, that his back and sides were besmeared with night-soil. He immediately removed the dirt with his own hands, and washed himself and the bedding. He did neither mention this to anybody, nor rebuke the offender, Sambhu Chandra. He was as much devoted to his brothers, as to his parents.

We have not yet noticed Isvar Chandra's clothing. India had not then been overflooded with foreign cloths turned out from machine-looms. Neither were there any weaving-machines, imported from the West, set up in the country. The native weavers used the hand-looms of their progenitors, and manufactured cloths of different kinds, both fine and coarse. There was a time, and that not long ago, when the fine muslin of Dacca, and the silk of Murshidabad and Rajsahi found favour with the fashionable of the West, and were exported to a large extent, thereby greatly enriching the country. But, alas! those days are gone, and the sons of the former weavers have parted with the looms of their forefathers, and taken to agriculture or other means of livelihood. Thakurdas's limited means would not permit him to give his sons fine dress. He could not afford to pay for any luxury. He was content to be able to provide them with coarse clothing. Isvar Chandra wore a coarse Dhuti^[6] and a Chadar^[7] of similar texture. He never grumbled at this. He was always averse to luxury. Even in later years, when he became a great and rich man, he never indulged in luxuries. A coarse Dhuti and Chadar and a pair of slippers constituted his complete dress. The simplicity of his dress and manners was derived from the habits, he had formed in his early years under poverty. With such a noble example before us, we cannot but admit that poverty does not necessarily generate meanness, as some people are apt to think, but, on the contrary, in not a few cases, it has been known to be the generator of many noble qualities. The victims of poverty are electrified, as it were, by their hardships, and are incited to work with zeal and ardour. Their very privations tend to make them hard-working, painstaking, persevering, patient and ever-cheerful. Ritcher said:—"I cannot but choose to say to poverty,—'welcome, so thou come not too late in life.'"

Speaking of the great Spanish writer, Servantes, one man remarked that the world had been enriched by his poverty, meaning, that he had done an immense good to the world by his books.

Carlyle said:—"He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he, who would stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision waggons, or even rest unwatchfully, abiding by the stuff."

Isvar Chandra bore his hardships with patience and cheerfulness. But even this would not save him from his rigorous father. The slightest accidental failing on his part was sure to bring down on his head his parent's wrath. He looked upon his father with the greatest awe and dread. It so happened, that Isvar Chandra, had forgotten the Sandhya-Mantras (prayers to be told at different parts of the day). He merely feigned the Sandhya by making an apparent show of the outward formalities and gestures. When Thakurdas came to know, that his dear son, Isvar Chandra, was such a hypocrite, his rage knew no bounds, and he gave the little boy a sound thrashing. Isvar Chandra was then made to re-learn the Mantras on the spot which he did in a very short time. So sharp was his memory!

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1. Ram Mohan Ray, the ablest representative of the more advanced members of the Hindu community, expressed deep disappointment on the part of himself and his countrymen at the resolution of Government to establish a new Sanskrit College, instead of a seminary to impart instruction in the Arts, Sciences and Philosophy of Europe
   Report of Indian Education Commission, 1882.
2. A great number of live Kai fish are imported to Calcutta from the Jessore District, in boats. Since they are fished up, these fishes get nothing to eat, and consequently they decay in flesh, but their heads remain much the same; and when they are produced for sale in the Calcutta bazars, their big heads appear prominently. Hence the nickname Jasure Kai is given to one, whose head is much bigger in porportion to the other parts.
3. Madan Mohan Tarkalankar and Muktaram Vidyavagis (both of whom turned reputed authors in after-life) were among his class-fellows.
4. Subsequently he won the title of Nyayratna and became Deputy Inspector of schools.
5. Later on, his third brother, Sambhn Chandra, having joined them for the purpose of carrying on his studies, the number of members rose to four.
6. A piece of long cloth worn about the loins.
7. A piece of cloth wrapped round about the upper part of the body.