Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/122

Rh Although there were nice arrangements in the Sanskrit College for award of prizes to the best essay-writers, Isvar Chandra had no mind to attempt at these prizes. His impression was that, in this age of degeneration, no one was capable of writing good Sanskrit. He had formed that impression from the composition of several of his colleagues. It was, therefore, that he did not appear at his first examination on Sanskrit composition. We have seen, however, that he was pressed to attend the examination. He finished his essay on Truthfulness, which was the subject for that year, in one hour's time, and won the first prize of one hunredhundred [sic] rupees, as we have mentioned before.

It is true that Isvar Chandra was not very eager to appear at these examinations, but whenever he did appear, his essay was considered the best, and he won prizes. Essay-writing is not practised in Tols, nor had there been any such practice in the Sanskrit College till 1838, when it was ruled that students of Smriti, Nyaya and Vedanta must undergo a separate examination on essay-writing.

The subject of essay for the second year was Knowledge, and Isvar Chandra won this prize too.

During the first two years of this examination, Mr. G. T. Marshall was Secretary to the Sanskrit College. In the third year, Babu Rassamay Dutta was the Secretary. This year, the subject of essay was "The Penance of Raja Agnidhra,"