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[ '55 J KALIPRASANNA ghose.. Rai Kaliprasanna Ghose Bahadur stands to-day in the front rank of the makers of Bengali literature. In 1844 he was born in the village of Varakar, in Bikrampur. His father was an orthodox Hindu, and jealously prevented his son from studying the English language, which, as he thought, would corrupt the religious instincts of his son. Kaliprasanna was therefore put in a Mdktab to study Persian. But the young and ardent spirit could not he confined within these narrow bounds. Once he went to Barisal to see his elder brother and strongly insisted on learning English. His brother succeeded overcoming the scruples of his father ; and Kaliprasanna after studying in a Missionary school for two years^ 'oined the Barisal Government school, and afterwards the Dacca Collegiate School. His thirst for knowledge was not satisfied by the prescribed Course of the School, and Kali- prasanna began to study Sanskrit literature and Grammar with an eagerness which surprised his fellow-students. When only thirteen he wrote two essays which were much appreciated by his teachers. Nor while studying oriental lore was he unmindful of the Western sages. He had quite a passion for philosophy. Kant Fichte and Comte were at his fingures' end. Thus equipped, he left the school and began to cultivate litera- ture. When only twenty, he made his name as an orator in English by criticising, in a literary association at Bhowanipore, a sjiecch of Dr. Mahendralala Sarkar, the appointed speaker of the day. He went on cultivating his faculty of speech, mainly through the medium of English, and became a recognised speaker in a fand which has by no means been bearren of speakers. However, by the advice of an American speaker, he gave up lecturing in t9