Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/22



There is a good biography of the late Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar in the Bengali language; but the fame of the venerable Pandit is not confined to Bengal. All India claims him as one of the great and earnest workers of the nineteenth century; and there were few Englishmen of the past generation who did not appreciate the high character and the distinguished services of that true-hearted Indian who was the friend of Sir Cecil Beadon and the collaborator of Drinkwater Bethune. Mr. Subal Chandra Mitra has therefore done well in compiling an account of Vidyasagar's life in English, and his book will supply a real need.

Vidyasagar will always fill a unique place in Indian history. Raja Ram Mohan Rai represented the new aspirations and the earnest work of the first generation of his countrymen in the nineteenth century; Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar reflected their arduous endeavours in the second. English rule and English education were powerful and far reaching influences which called forth new ideas and new efforts from the people. Ram