Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/263

220 if the sons of the lower castes were allowed to read Sanskrit, their Hindu religion would be polluted. But Vidyasagar refuted them by reasonable arguments, and by quotations of passages from the very Sastras. He asked the professors, that if they believed that the Sudras were not entitled to Sanskrit education, how was it then that Raja Radha Kanta Dev, who was as well a Sudra, could obtain instruction in Sanskrit, and the professors did not object to his discussion of the Sastras? He also asked them, that when they were disinclined to teach Sanskrit to the Sudras and other low caste boys, how was it that they did not feel compunction in teaching the godly language to Europeans, who were no Hindus, and received, in return, money from them as wages? In fact, he had to toil hard to carry his point by these and other means. He even went so far as to declare to one of his friends, that if he did not succeed in his attempts at this innovation, he would resign his office. But, fortunately, he had not to go so far. The authorities approved of his scheme, and they granted permission to take Kayastha boys into the College. It was some time after this, that the other Sudras were also permitted to read, in the Sanskrit College all other branches of the Sanskrit Literature save Theology.

The mental labour and anxiety that he has had to undergo in his endeavours to introduce these innovations and improvements into the College,