Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/410

Rh of a Hindu widow shut up in the zenana who, in her solitary friendless condition, formed an attachment to a young neighbour, by whom she was led to a course of sin. The concluding scences depicted her sufferings, her suicide, her confessions, with appeals to all patriotic men to put an end to the cruel celibacy of Hindu widows. The performance was first opened to the public in the beginning of 1859, and produced a sensation in Calcutta, which those who witnessed it, can never forget. The representatives of the highest classes of Hindu society were present. The pioneer and father of the widow-marriage movement, Pundit Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar came more than once, and tender-hearted as he is, was moved to floods of tears. In fact there was scarcely a dry eye in the great audience. Undoubtedly the most wholesome effect was produced. Keshub, as stage manager, was warmly complimented on his energy and intelligence, and we, his friends, as amateur actors, who had done our best, also received our humble share of praise."

It was Vidyasagar's firm conviction that English education would be productive of highly beneficial results for this country. He had, therefore, made his best efforts to inaugurate English into