Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/141

102. But the motion was carried by a majority of votes, and a monthly pension of twenty-five rupees was granted to Babu Akshay Kumar Datta. There can be no doubt, that the pension was granted chiefly through the exertions of Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Some time after the resignation of Babu Askhay Kumar Datta, Vidyasagar also cut off his connection with the Tattvabodhini Sabha. This was owing to difference of opinion with Babu Devendra Nath Tagore in some respects. No wonder that a conflict of the opinions of two such independent-spirited men should bring about their separation. The friction of two pieces of dry, hard wood, or the collision of a piece of steel against a piece of flint is sure to produce sparkles of fire. It was for a similar reason, that Keshub Chunder Sen and some of his associates severed their connection with the Brahma Samaj.

When Vidyasagar was himself engaged in learning English privately at his own residence, he had, in his turn, to give private lessons in Sanskrit to a number of elderly scholars. Syama Charan Sarkar, one of the translators of the Sudder Court, Ramratan Mukharji, Nilmani Mukharji, Raj Krishna Banarji, and some other gentlemen were among his pupils. His mode of imparting instruction was so ingenious, that he could make his pupils easily master even a difficult subject. The learned professors of the Sanskrit College were