Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/418

 body as almost the sole reforming agency in the province. A sincere well-wisher of the illiterate, he devoted his time and energy to a vigorous spread of education. Many and various have been the works from his gifted pen; and such is their worth and such their popularity that, it is said, he had an income of several thousand rupees a month from the sale of his productions. His tender heart always throbbed in rich and living sympathy for those dumb victims of ruthless custom— the fair sex of our country. With unflagging zeal he toiled to emancipate the minds of our women from the thraldom of ignorance and superstition. Through his earnest endeavours several girl-schools were established. To him, we think, has been due to a large extent the stability and success of one of the biggest colleges under Indian management in Calcutta — the Metropolitan Institution. Thus his large income was mostly dedicated to education and philanthropy. However, it was by his heroic exertions in the cause of widow-marriage that Vidyasagar