social reformer
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay
1820–1891
Also known as: Vidyasagar, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, ঈশ্বরচন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর, ईश्वरचन्द्र विद्यासागर
How Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is discussed in this archive
Authored 3 works in the archive.
Subject of 1 profile piece — including The Liberalism of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar .
Referenced in 4 other works — including Rani Rashmoni Das: Reform in 19th Century Bengal , B.R. Ambedkar on Justice Ranade, Social Reform and Failure of Indian Liberalism , and Harish Chandra Mukherjee - A less known liberal .
In B.R. Ambedkar on Justice Ranade, Social Reform and Failure of Indian Liberalism : Vidyasagar is cited alongside Raja Rammohan Roy and Henry Derozio as a Bengal liberal-minded reformer who faced opposition from conservative forces just as Ranade did in the western provinces.
In Harish Chandra Mukherjee - A less known liberal : Vidyasagar's widow remarriage campaign is the immediate cause to which Mukherjee devoted his nightly editorial support, making him the primary liberal ally in Mukherjee's activism.
In Rani Rashmoni Das: Reform in 19th Century Bengal : Vidyasagar is named alongside Raja Ram Mohan Roy as an upper-caste reformer in whose circle Rani Rashmoni Das established herself, and as an inspiration for her advocacy against child marriage.
In Kandukuri Veeresalingam: Icon of Andhra’s Renaissance : Vidyasagar is the comparator — Ranade's epithet 'Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar of South' uses the Bengal widow-remarriage reformer as the standard against which Veeresalingam's Andhra work is measured.
By Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (3)
Primary works (2)
Excerpts (1)
About Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1)
Profile pieces (1)
- The Liberalism of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
- "Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's many roles as an educationist, writer, social reformer, and feminist have rightly earned him the credential of being one of the early progenitors of Indian modernity." — establishes Vidyasagar's comprehensive importance to Indian liberalism
- "Yet this Sanskrit scholar battled to end child marriage and high-caste polygamy, and to enable Hindu widows to re-marry." — captures the paradox of a Sanskrit scholar championing liberal reform
Mentioned in (4)
Opinion pieces (3)
- B.R. Ambedkar on Justice Ranade, Social Reform and Failure of Indian Liberalism
- "In Bengal province, things were no different for liberal-minded reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Henry Derozio" — parallel cases of liberal reformers facing conservative backlash across regions
- Harish Chandra Mukherjee - A less known liberal
- "nightly in support of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who had launched a movement for introduction of remarriage for Hindu widows" — Mukherjee's editorial solidarity with Vidyasagar's landmark social reform campaign
- Rani Rashmoni Das: Reform in 19th Century Bengal
- "Das, a widow who belonged to a lower caste community, established a revered position for herself among upper caste reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar." — situates Vidyasagar as part of the reformist elite whose company Das earned despite her lower-caste origins
- "Inspired by their works and beliefs, Das also became a prominent voice against child marriage" — credits Vidyasagar and Roy's reformism as inspiring Das's own activism
Excerpts (1)
- Kandukuri Veeresalingam: Icon of Andhra’s Renaissance
- "In 1898, MG Ranade, in a meeting, acclaimed Veeresalingam as "Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar of South"" — Vidyasagar invoked as the canonical reformer-benchmark; the comparison transfers his moral authority on widow remarriage onto Veeresalingam