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ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR
AND HIS ELUSIVE MILESTONES
ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR
AND HIS ELUSIVE MILESTONES
ASOK SEN
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RIDDHl-INDIA
28 BENIATOLA LANE
CALCUTTA-9
FIRST PUBLISHED-197'1
©
ASOK SEN
poem
· Excerpts on the dedication page are from the Bengali
Parabasi by Bishnu Dey and the poet's own
English translation.
This book is the result of a research project undertaken
at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.
Cover-design
Romabai De
Rs;
30~00
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Published by Sri Syamal Bhattacharya on behalf of Riddhi-India>
28, Beniatola Lane, Calcutta-700009. Printed by Sri T. K.
Barik from Anu Press, 51, Jhamapukur Lane, Calcutta-700009.
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91--11:q-1->t~ ~ 1~ :q I> i'f,.i l' ~ ?
Where are those woods gone? Yet there are no settlements,
Only the bare plains, only the howl of the dry wind.
The jungles all cleared off, the villages dead, the cities
Yet to be founded and the peacocks stuffed into commodities.
Why in this land is man dumb and helpless?
Why are rivers, trees, hills so unimportant ?
How long do we roam about carrying our tents ?
When does the alien set up his own house ?
Contents
.Acknowledgements IX
Preface XIII
"The Beginning and the End 1
Learning and Respectability 7
Education and the Economy 19
Society and Leadership 51
A . Aims and Results 53
B. Intellectual Role and Social Leadership 66
C. State and Society 89
D. Elements of a growing crisis : the evidence
of Somprokash and Sadharani 94
E. Brahmo Reformation and Hindu Revival 103
·F. The Economic Problem 108
·G. Vidyasagar's Deepening Crisis 131
The Elusive Milestones 145
.A.ppendice1 167
.Index 187
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At all stages .of my work on the research project leading t<>
this book, I have received advice and encouragement from
Professor Bhabatosh Datta.
Many of these ideas had taken shape in disc~ions with·
my colleagues at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences,
Calcutta, particularly with Nripendranath Bandyopadhyay,
Pradyumna Bhattacharya, Dipesh · Chakravarty, Partha
Chatterjee, Baron De and Indrani Roy. Partha Chatterjee
helped me with his comments and suggestions to improve upon
my initial drafts.
None knows better than I how much my effort has depended
on the constant cooperation of Baron De and on his immense
patience to see through my drafts and suggest improvements.
Several discussions with Sukumari Bhattacharya (Depart
ment of Sanskrit, Jadavpur University), Arun Das Gupta
(Department of History, Calcutta University), and Sumit Sarkar
(Department of History, Delhi University) were extremely use
ful. Valuable comments were kindly made by Jasodhara
Bagchi (Department of English, Jadavpur University) and
Gautam Chattopftdhyay (Surendranath College, Calcutta), on
an earlier draft of this work, which was released as an Occass
ional Paper of the Centre in August, 1975. Among my collea
gues at the Centre, Amiya Bagchi, Nirmala Banerjee,
Shibanikinkar Chaube, Amalendu Guh~, Saugata Mukherji,
Debes Ray and Hitesranjan Sanyal helped me with their critical
appreciation of the Occasional Paper.
A number of rare books and valuable reference materials
were kindly supplied to me by Satyesh Chakraborty (Indian Ins
titute of Management, Calcutta), Gouri Chatterjee (Orient Long
mans, Calcutta), Boudhayan Chattopadhyay (National Labour
Institute) , Kanailal Chattopadbyay (Uluberia College, Howrah),
R. P. Gupta (Tata Iron and Steel Co., Calcutta), Swapan
Majumdar (Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur
Uuiversity), Sunil Munsi (Centre for Studies in· Social Sciences,.
(X)
Calcutta), Pranab Ranjan Ray (West Bengal Gazetteers), Subir
Roychoudhuri (Department of Comparative Literature, J adav
pur University), ·and · Chinmohan Sehanabis . (Historical
Research Unit, Communist Party of India). V. C. Joshi, formely
Deputy Director, Nehru Memorial Museum a!1d Liberary, New
Delhi, promptly responded to the Centre's request for sending
me a micro-film copy of the An&ual Report of the Indian
Association ( 1882). In reply to my query, Haripada Bhattach- .
.arya of Khirpai, Midnapore, kindly communicated to me some
-valuable information as regads the widow marriage episode,
which forced Vidyasagar to abandon his village home for the
rest of his life.
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, while an M.A. student of History
in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, compile!] for this
work some necessary evidence from old newspapers. Later,
.after joining the Centre as a research scholar in July, 1976,
Rudrangshu helped me with his skilful proof-reading and in pre
paring the press-copy and the index. Throughout, his youthful
<;omprehension and enthusiasm has me sterling support.
give~
Shyamali Sur, a research scholar in the Department of History,
Jadavpur University, helped in some of my reference work.
Dayita Datta, a teacher of Loreto School, Bowbazar, Calcutta,
helped in proof-reading and copy-editing.
Enakshi Mukhopadhyay, fomerly a research investigator
at the Centre, complied a good amount of valuable data for my .
enquiry. Madanmohan Mukhopadhyay, a computing assistant at
the Centre, did very useful compilation and collation of data.
I have received excellent cooperation from our Centre's
.adminstration, library the typists' pool. Nirmal Chandra
a~
Chakrabarty and Arun Kumar Sanyal .typed the press-copy
with care.
The management and staff of the National Library, Calcutta,
West Bengal State Archives, and Bengal Secretariat Records Room
have always offered me generous cooperation.
I thank them all and remain responsible for the views and
.analysis presented in the book.
I am grateful to Syamal Bhattacharya and Swapan Majum
·dar for their kind initiative to publish the book.
(XI)
I thank Romabai De for making the book's cover-design.
Unless otherwise mentioned, all translati<!ns from Bengali
are my own.
A part of this book (chapters 2 and 3) was submitted in
December, 1974, as a separate article for publication in
History and Society: Essays in Honour of Professor Niharranjan
Ray. .
Sulekba wishes in this context that I keep my grateful
feelings about her to myself.
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Asok Sen
Calcutta.
September 29, 1977.
PREFACE
Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar's imm~nse strength of struggle
and humanity is of legendary significance in our modem history~
.For the most part Vidyasagar equated his life with reason.
This
gave him an untiring will for positive social action. In hiS
.case, the rational infi.uence of western knowledge and humanism
was free of any attraction for alien styles of living. Vidyasagar's
ideals secured little fulfilment in society ; his experience was full
-0f faliures and deceptions.
I have attempted to interpret this experience within the
.cqntext of nineteenth century Bengal under British colonial rule.
The narrow limits of effective social practice were inherent in
the economic directions of imperialism. A stagnant agricultural
.economy emerged, with its ever-increasing scale of sub-infeud
.ation and divorce between land-ownership and actual cultivation.
The country's older industries were destroyed in consequence of
unrestricted imports of cheaper British manufactures. British
~apital monopolised the limited growth of factory industries ;
neither their profits, nor their markets were integrated to India's
home economy.
All his strength of will and conscience notwithstanding,
Vidyasagar could not free himself from the ambiguity of his
-social situation arising out of the whole complex of England's
work in India. The line of demarcation between comprador
.and national bourgeoisie is perhaps of little avail for explaining
Vidyasagar's experience. . In countries under direct . foreign
·capitalist rule of the British type, as was the case with· India, the
dialectics of loyalty and opposition would not admit of a clear
division among the native bourgeoisie or the entire middle class
into two exclusive categories of collaborators and opponents of
imperialism. Indeed, Indian bourgeois opposition to imper
ialism suffered a perpetual fragility of its own history. _Capitalism.
iil India ha~ always lacked the ability to act as an adequate
agency for socio-econonlic. transformation. . ·
Vidyasagar1s experience occurred before the Indian bour
geoisie had matured even physically to its national dimension.
His own class was mainly contained in tertiary occupations like
