Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/110

 HIS MIGRATION TO CALCUTTA. 101 words of the Indian Mirror, of the. 13th December, 1879 :— "This young gentleman (Babu Ram Tonoo) with characteristic kindness provided Shama Churn with accommodation in his own lodgings and advised him to engage in the study of English, to which he still further stimulated by the acquaintance he then formed with such intelligent and enlightened friends and college-fellows of Babu Ram Tonu, as the late Babu Ram Gopal Ghose, Babu Peary Ghand Mittra, and other gentlemen. Shama Churn was about 21 years of age when he began to learn the alphabet and rudiments of the English language. Feeling, however, that it was incumbent on him to make some provision for the support of his poor mother and sisters in his native village, Shama Churn, besides supplying his wants and prosecuting bis studies, sought out, in the course of his evening walks on the maidan, then, as now, the resort of the elite of Calcutta, suoh gentlemen as were likely to engage his services as a Munshi, or Pundit, in learning the vernacular languages of India. In this way, he was fortunate enough in securing a few pupils. About this time too he was engaged by the late Mr. P. S. D'Rozario, the bookseller, to translate into Bengali and Urdu a pocket dictionary which Mr. (now Sir) Charles Trevelyan wished to be published in the Roman charact- er. HiB services as a Munshi or Pundit were recommended by the late Babu Rani Gopal Ghose to many European .mercan- tile gentlemen whe were desirous of learning the Native languages on their first arrival in this country. Shama Churn's labour connected with the Dictionary brought him into contaot with Sir Charles Trevelyan, who appointed him as his own Munshi, and employed him in the preparation of several Urdu works, printed in the Roman character. Although his time was so engrossed with work after his arrival in Calcutta, Shama Churn continued his study of the Persian and Urdu languages under Moulyi Abdur-Ruhim of Delhi, who was re-