Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/315

272 dows into Hindu Society was not the first move in the direction. It is said, that more than a century ago, Raja Raj Baliabh of Vikrampur, Dacca, then a powerful prince, tried to bring this innovation into Hindu Society. He had, in his house, a young widowed daughter, and he was determined to give her in marriage. He had secured favourable opinions of Pandits from different parts of the country, and, at last, asked for the opinions of the Pandits of Nuddea, who gave quite contrary opinions, Raja Raj Ballabh had, therefore, to give up his project. Some 19 or 20 years before Vidyasagar's agitation, a Mahratta Brahman of Nagpore in the Central Provinces of India, started a movement on the subject, but without success. About the same time, a Madrasee Brahman made attempts to get a Law passed on the subject, but failed. Some time after this, Babu Mati Lai Sil, one of the greatest millionaires of Calcutta, made strenuous exertions in this direction. It is said, that he even promised a present of ten thousand rupees to the first man who would lawfully marry a widow, and was prepared to spend his last pice in the furtherance of this cause, but met with no better success. Some two years before the publication of Vidyasagar's pamphlet, one Syama Charan Das, a wealthy man of the ironsmith caste, tried to give his widowed daughter in marriage. For this purpose, he had secured favourable opinions of a number of Pandits. But