Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/362

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RE-MARRlAGE OF HINDU WIDOWS.
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house, that the bridegroom's palanquin could proceed through them only with utmost difficulty. It is said, that Vidyasagar himself and some of his most influential followers escorted the palanquin on both sides of it, for he had apprehended a riot. He had, therefore already applied for Police help, and constables had been posted one yard apart, in all the streets through which the bridegroom was to pass, to prevent the contingent riot. Some say, that Vidyasagar's friend, Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, was, in fact, the match-maker of this union. He knew both the parties, and encouraged them to form this alliance. Sris Chandra was Judge-Pandit of Murshidabad in place of Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, since the latter had been made a Deputy Magistrate. So it is probable, that he might have induced Sris Chandra to enter into this union, but it is not known whether he contributed any amount to Vidyasagar's widow marriage fund.

Different versions of the celebration of this marriage appeared in the different vernacular periodicals. The Samachar Chandrika, the Sangbad Prabhakar, and the Bhaskar were the leading Bengali newspapers of the day, besides some other fortnightly and monthly magazines. Gaurisankar Bhattacharyya, otherwise known as Gurgure Bhattacharyya, was the editor of the Bhaskar, and the poet Isvar Chandra Gupta was the editor of the Sangbad Prabhakar. These two papers sided