Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/39

2 to the west of Tarakesvar, a sacred place with the Hindus, where thousands of pilgrims from different parts of India assemble annually to offer their puja (prayer and offerings) to their god Tarakesvar or Siva. The life and character of a man are greatly influenced by his surroundings. This was amply verified in Vidyasagar. We should therefore begin with a brief description of the family, he was born in. His pedigree may uncontrovertibly be traced to his great grand-father. In this respect it would be better to quote what Vidyasagar himself has said in his auto-biography:—

"My paternal great-grandfather, Bhuvanesvar Vidyalankar, had five sons, of whom the eldest was Nrisingha Ram, the second, gangadhar, the third, Ramjay, the fourth, Panchanan, and the fifth, Ramcharan. The third, Ramjay Tarkabhushan, was my grandfather. After the death of my great-grandfather (father's grandfather), his first and second sons managed the family affairs. In a short time, my grandfather, Ramjay Tarkabhushan, had some dispute with his elder brothers about the family property, and soon the dispute rose into downright quarrel and breach of brotherly friendship. Ultimately, my grandfather left the village in disgust.

"There lived, at that time, in the village of Birsingha, a famous Pandit (profound sanskrit scholar) named Umapati Tarkasiddhanta. My