Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/592

Rh which gave rise to serious litigations, consequent on frauds with respect to the deeds. Thus arose the necessity for a fresh legislation to prevent these evil practices. The Bill, introduced in 1869, was framed by the alteration of some of the sections of the Indian Succession Act. The movement caused a great agitation throughout the country.

The Government asked for the opinions of all the influential, leading members of Society and some of the Sastric Pandits. Vidyasagar was also called upon to give his opinion. He bestowed his best thoughts on the subject, and opposed two points: first, according to the Hindu Sastras, the gift of something to an unborn person is unlawful—both the donor and the donee of a gift must be cognisant of it; but in this Act, such gifts have been considered lawful in certain cases: secondly, what has been termed as Rules against Perpetuity is also opposed to the Hindu Sastras. Vidyasagar's arguments were founded on sound bases. But the Government paid no heed to them, and the Bill was passed into a law applicable to the Hindus, including Buddhists and Jains.

In the course of this year, Vidyasagar had to encounter another serious calamity in the death of Maharaja Satis Chandra Ray Bahadur of Nuddea, who breathed his last on the 25th day of October, 1870. Vidyasagar was intimately connected with the Nuddea Raj family. He had a friendly intercourse with Satis Chandra's father, Maharaja Sris