Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/88

 so little a boy would not be able to comprehend the meaning of the Sanskrit poems. The pride of Isvar Chandra was touched. He requested the teacher to examine him on the subject, and then to take him if he was considered fit, as otherwise he must leave the College. Jay Gopal Tarkalankar gave him a few Slokas (stanzas) from Bhatti (a very difficult poem) to explain, which the boy paraphrased and explained very creditably. There could now be no objection to take the little boy. He was accordingly admitted into this class.

We have forgotten to mention, that in the second year of his Grammar class, Isvar Chandra had also enrolled himself as a student of English. We have already noticed briefly what the state of English instruction was, at that time, in the Sanskrit College. Very few students applied to it with due diligence. Isvar Chandra read in the English class for only six months, and then gave it over. But Isvar Chandra repented of it in after years, and he had to toil hard to obtain a little knowledge of the English language.

Now, let us see how he fared in the Belles-lettres department. In the first year, he studied Raghuvangsa, Kumar-sambhava and Raghava-Pandaviya. At the annual examination of this class, he headed the list of successful students, and won the first prize. In the second year, he read Magha, Bharavi, Sakuntala, Meghduta, Uttaracharita, Vikramorvvasi, Kadambari, Dasakumarchrita,