Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/574



In March 1869, Vidyasagar's house at Birsingha with everything in it was destroyed by fire. His mother and second brother were in sound sleep at the time, but most fortunately they escaped from the fire and not a single life was lost. No sooner did the news of the sad accident reach Vidyasagar, than he hastened to Birsingha and made provisions for the re-erection of the house. He wanted to take away his mother with him to Calcutta, but she declined on the ostensible plea that without her, there would be nobody to look after the comfort of the school-boys, whom Vidyasagar had been giving food and shelter, and after her poor neighbours.

In the same year, he published a correct edition of the Sanskrit Megha-Duta with Mallinatha's annotations.

We now come to a most painful scene—the desertion of his ancestral home. The main cause of this abandonment is attributed to a sad incident in connection with widow marriage. One Muchiram Bandyopadhyay of Khirpai, Head Pandit of the Kenchkapur School, had settled to take to his wife a Brahman widow named Manomohini of Kasiganja. He came to Vidyasagar and implored his help in the affair. Vidyasagar at once proceeded to Birsingha to celebrate the marriage.