Evaluation of the Contributions of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Begum Rokeya Shakhawat Hussain to the Development of Education

1. Ahmed 1
Sheikh Saifullah Ahmed
Student Id-141410
English Discipline
Khulna University
Language, Education and Development -3109
18 Sep 2016
Evaluation of the Contributions of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Begum Rokeya
Shakhawat Hussain to the Development of Education:
Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar:
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He was a
philosopher, academic educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur, reformer,
and philanthropist. His efforts to simplify and modernize Bengali prose were significant. He
received the title "Vidyasagar" (in Sanskrit Vidya means knowledge and sagar means ocean,
i.e., Ocean of Knowledge) from Sanskrit College, Calcutta (from where he graduated), due to
his excellent performance in Sanskrit studies and philosophy.
Biography in Brief:
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a great son of Bengal. He was born at Birsingha in the
District of Midnapore in 1820. Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabati Devi were his
parents. Vidyasagar came from a very poor family but he was very intelligent. He had his
primary education at village pathshala. Then he came to Calcutta and was admitted to
Sanskrit College. He passed the Final Examination with great credit and became known as
‘Vidyasagar’ for his profound knowledge.
Vidyasagar first served the Education Department of Bengal. He then became a professor and
later the principal of Sanskrit College. Vidyasagar was not only a learned man, but he was
also a very kind-hearted person and a great social reformer. He set up many girls’ schools to
spread education among women. He was against child marriage and got the Widow Re-
marriage Bill passed. He is called the ‘father of Bengali prose’.

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Being an exceptionally brilliant student, he earned the title of Vidyasagar (an ocean of
learning) by 1839, He was the scholar of grammar, literature, rhetoric, Vedanta,
jurisprudence, logic, astronomy, Hindu law and English, he was awarded a certificate of
proficiency in these subjects. , he joined Sanskrit College as its professor of Sanskrit
literature, and, in the following month, became its Principal.
As Principal, he brought about a range of significant changes in the affairs of the college.
Previously only Brahman and Vaidya students were qualified to enrol in the college, but he
opened its doors to all Hindus; introduced nominal tuition fees; changed weekly holiday from
each 1st and 8th days of the moon (which varied according to the lunar calendar) to Sundays;
and persuaded the government to accept the degree given by the College to be sufficient for
competing for the post of deputy magistrate of the time. Ishwar Chandra revised the syllabus
radically, and instead of teaching grammar and mathematics (including algebra) through
Sanskrit alone, he began teaching these subjects through Bangla and English as well; and
strengthened the English Department. He also made English a compulsory subject in view of
contemporary reality. While he also emphasised more efficient teaching of Bangla, the
teaching of philosophy received even wider attention. He considered Sankhya and Vedanta
philosophy to be unacceptable, and, also, refused to include Berkeleyan or similar Western
philosophy in the syllabus; in its place, he suggested teaching Bacon's philosophy and JS
Mill's logic.
Alongside opening these Bangla model schools, the government also decided to establish
some girls' schools, even though it was uncertain as to whether it would be possible to do so
in the face of strong opposition from conservative society which considered female education
a taboo. Vidyasagar, an ardent supporter of female education, was given the responsibility of
launching these schools. Apart from modernising and reforming Sanskrit College; and
establishing vernacular and girls' schools, his most important contribution to education was
the textbooks he wrote and published. Until he published his pioneering work Barnaparichay
(An Introduction to Alphabet, 1851), there was no such model reader for the beginners. The
quality of this book was so good that it served as the universal textbook for the beginners for
the following half a century.
A close look at the textbooks he wrote makes it evident that not only did he want to teach
students the skills of reading and writing, but he also wanted the reader to acquire moral
values and a liberal outlook. he compiled popular stories from Europe and America and gave

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titles such as Devotion to Mother, Devotion to Father, Love for Brother, Devotion to the
Teacher, Hospitality, Helping Others and Prize for Honesty; thus, he tried not only to teach
moral values but also to encourage his readers to look beyond their country. As his textbooks
ran dozens of editions and were prescribed every school in Bengal, he was at once able to set
a standard of language, including spelling, and elevate the moral standard of his readers.
Indeed, he reformed and developed Bangla prose not just by his textbooks, but also by his
other writings. Until he published his Vetalpavchavingshati in 1847, the Bangla prose style,
created by the pundits of Fort William College or by Rammohun Roy, was archaic, artificial
and barely adequate for communicating information, but it fell far short of what can be
termed as literary prose - a prose style suited to writing literature. Before him, Bangla prose
had the vocabulary for communicating information, but little beauty, and lacked smoothness
and lucidity. Vidyasagar discovered collocation, modified the sentence structure and
established the correlation between the subject and the verb, and the verb and the object. He,
thus, created a style hitherto unknown in Bangla prose. He also discovered the relation
between breath-pause and meaning-pause and made a synthesis of them, and helped the
reader find these poses by using punctuation marks, particularly commas, at the right place.
Previously, only Akshay Kumar Datta had used English punctuation marks; in Bangla, there
were just full-stops and double full-stops prior to him.
However, Vidyasagar did not write in one single style; for example, the style he followed in
his textbooks was, of course, different from the one he used in his literary works, and the
style seen in his anonymous writings was yet another - one of sarcasm and wit.
Moreover, his language style, including his wit and humour, makes both these books seem
original. Unlike Sanskrit most scholars of his time, who were mostly traditional in their social
outlook and religious beliefs, Vidyasagar was an agent of change and liberalism. He realised
that without modernising traditional mores and reforming from within the family, society
could never advance.
Vidyasagar was saddened by the distress of child widows who were at that time treated
inhumanly and started writing in favour of their remarriage. His first article on this subject
appeared in Bengal Spectator (April 1842) when he had just come out of Sanskrit College. In
order to raise social consciousness towards the deplorable condition of widows, particularly
child widows, he published his first book in January 1855 and the second in October that

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year. Later, he also wrote a couple of books on the subject anonymously attacking those
Sanskrit pundits who objected to his ideas.
Alongside justifying remarriage of widows by putting forward arguments from ancient
shastras, he started a movement for legalising widow remarriage for which he organised a
signature campaign and sent a petition to the government on 4 October 1855 asking it to pass
it into law. Later, twenty-two other petitions followed, some from other parts of India, and
had more than five thousand signatures against child marriage. On the contrary, conservative
Hindus sent in twenty-eight petitions bearing more than fifty-five thousand signatures, urging
the government not to pass such a law and thereby interfere with the religion and culture of
the natives. Even though the balance was in favour of the conservatives, the government
passed an act legalising widow remarriage in July 1857. In spite of this moral victory for the
liberals, the Act had only limited success. In the face of strong opposition and even violence,
Vidyasagar remarried the first widow in December that year to one of his colleagues at
Sanskrit College.'
Boosted with his success in legalising widow remarriage, Vidyasagar petitioned to the
government for the abolition of Kulin polygamy and, later, early marriage. However, the
Sepoy Mutiny (1857) had made government cautious about hurting the sentiment of the
common people. Thus, no Act was passed abolishing either Kulin polygamy or child
marriage, but he is still remembered for his liberal outlook.
If Rammohun Roy played the role of the first humanist pundit in Bengal by translating,
reinterpreting and publishing old shastras, and thus started the process of the Bengal
Renaissance, Vidyasagar was the second. Whereas the former did it mainly for his campaign
against sati, the latter did it for the remarriage of child widows, stopping polygamy,
introducing female education and for improving the condition of the downtrodden in society,
particularly women. Moreover, he translated from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and from
Kalidas into Bangla not to return to ancient India, but to improve the literary tastes of the
emerging educated class. The literature he translated was mostly that of gods and goddesses,
such as Rama and Sita, but he transformed these characters into adorable modern human
beings.
He turned into a living legend for his personality and character. At a time when everyone in
society was expected to follow the trodden path and never to challenge traditional values and
morals, he established a unique example of individuality and independence. Not only did he

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want to go his own way, but he also had the moral courage to practice it. When he organised
the movement for remarriage of child widows, he ignored the hostility and threats from
traditional Hindus, and nothing could detour him from his determination. While other
supporters of widow remarriage lost their enthusiasm within a year or so, and broke their
promise to fund it, as a lonely soldier he went on fighting the conservatives and arranging
marriages of widows. He had the courage to marry his only son to a widow, and then, for
something else, even to disown him. Although there were many rich people in Bengal at that
time and he was just a member of the educated middle class, he earned the name as the
greatest philanthropist of his day and became a role model to everyone, including his
enemies.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar passed away on 29 July 1891 at the age of 70 years.
Education, Social, and Religious Reform movements in Bengal and Other Areas and
contributions of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar:
Educational Reforms:
• Ishwar Chandra firmly believed that the regeneration of India was possible only
through education. In matters of education Ishwar Chandra aimed at extending the
benefits of learning to common people. He stressed upon instruction through
vernacular language. He also put emphasis on writing textbooks in vernacular
language.
• Further, in order to liberate the minds of young learners from ‘unsophisticated
scholarship,’ Ishwar Chandra urged upon them the study of Western science and
philosophy.
• He also opened the doors of the colleges and other educational institutions to lower
caste students, which was earlier reserved only for the Brahmins. For his immense
generosity and kind-heartedness, people started addressing him as “Daya Sagar”
(ocean of kindness).
• Having spent his early life in village Ishwar Chandra could realize the sorrowful
condition of the womenfolk. He rightly believed that the emancipation of women was
not possible as long as they remained ignorant. Ishwar Chandra, therefore, took upon
himself the task of promoting the cause of female education.

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• Noticing the British Government’s indifference towards female education Ishwar
Chandra himself started a few model schools for girls.
• He also collaborated with Drinkwater Bethune in establishing the Hindu Female
School (at present known as Bethune School and College) in 1849.
• He brought a revolution in the education system of Bengal. In his book, “Barno-
Porichoy” (Introduction to the letter), Vidyasagar refined the Bengali language and
made it accessible to the common strata of the society. Vidyasagar invented Bengali
prose through translation as well as own writings. Sakuntala is a facile prose
translation of Kalidas
• Ishwar Chandra is considered as one of the pillars of Bengal renaissance. He managed
to continue the reforms movement that was started by Raja Rammohan Roy. He was a
far-sighted social reformer, philosopher, philanthropist, and educationalist with a
modern vision.
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain :
She is commonly known as Begum Rokeya, was a Bengali writer, thinker, educationist,
social activist, and advocate of women's rights. She is considered the pioneer feminist of
Bengal. She wrote novels, poems, short stories, science fiction, satires, treatises, and essays.
In her writings, she advocated that both men and women should be treated equally as rational
beings, and the lack of education is the main reason for women's lagging behind. Rokeya
suggested that education of women is the foremost requisite of women's liberation; hence she
established the first school aimed primarily at Bengali Muslim girls in Kolkata. Rokeya is
said to have gone from house to house persuading the parents to send their girls to her school.
Until her death, she ran the school despite facing hostile criticism and various social
obstacles.
In 1916, she founded the Muslim Women’s Association, an organization that fought for
women’s education and employment. In 1926, Rokeya presided over the Bengal Women’s
Education Conference convened in Kolkata, the first significant attempt to bring women
together in support of women’s education rights. She was engaged in debates and conferences
regarding the advancement of women until her death on 9 December 1932, shortly after
presiding over a session during the Indian Women’s Conference.

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Biography in Brief:
Begum Rokeya was born in 1880 in the village of Pairabondh, Mithapukur, Rangpur,
present Bangladesh, in what was then the British Indian Empire. Her father, Jahiruddin
Muhammad Abu Ali Haidar Saber, was a highly educated zamindar (landlord) who married
four times; his marriage to Rahatunnessa resulted in the birth of Rokeya, who had two sisters
and three brothers, one of whom died in childhood. Rokeya's eldest brother Ibrahim Saber,
and her immediate elder sister Karimunnesa, both had a great influence on her life.
Karimunnesa wanted to study Bengali, the language of the majority in Bengal. The family
disliked this because much upper-class Muslims of the time preferred to
use Arabic and Persian as the media of education, instead of their native language, Bengali.
Ibrahim taught English and Bengali to Rokeya and Karimunnesa; both sisters became
authors.
Rokeya married at the age of sixteen in 1898. Her Urdu-speaking husband, Khan Bahadur
Sakhawat Hussain, was the deputy magistrate of Bhagalpur, which is now a district under the
Indian state of Bihar. He married earlier also. Sakhawat was then 38 years old before his
marriage with Rokeya. Sakhawat did his B.A.G. from England and was a member of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England. He married Rokeya after the death of his first wife.
As he was gentle, liberal-minded and had much interest in female education he encouraged
Rokeya to continue her brother's work by encouraging her to keep learning Bengali and
English. He also encouraged her to write, and on his advice, she adopted Bengali as the
principal language for her literary works because it was the language of the masses. She
launched her literary career in 1902 with a Bengali essay entitled Pipasa (Thirst). She also
published the books Motichur (1905) and Sultana's Dream (1908) during her husband's
lifetime.
In 1909, Sakhawat Hussain died. He had encouraged his wife to set aside money to start a
school primarily for Muslim women. Five months after his death, Rokeya established a high
school in her beloved husband's memory, naming it Sakhawat Memorial Girls' High School.
It started in Bhagalpur, a traditionally Urdu-speaking area, with only five students. A dispute
with her husband's family over property forced her to move the school in 1911 to Calcutta, a
Bengali-speaking area. It remains one of the city's most popular schools for girls and is now
run by the state government of West Bengal.

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Rokeya also founded the Anjuman e Khawateen e Islam (Islamic Women's Association),
which was active in holding debates and conferences regarding the status of women and
education. She advocated reform, particularly for women, and believed that parochialism and
excessive conservatism were principally responsible for the relatively slow development of
Muslims in British India. As such, she is one of the first Islamic feminists. She was inspired
by the traditional Islamic learning as enunciated in the Qur'an, and believed that modern
Islam had been distorted or corrupted; Anjuman e Khawateen e Islam organised many events
for social reforms based on the original teachings of Islam that, according to her, were lost.
Remembering Begum Rokeya: a trailblazer in the rights, education and modernization
of Bengali Muslim women:
We are about to celebrate ‘International Women’s Day’ on March 8, with a vision to ensure a
more equal world regardless of gender, to ensure Justice, dignity, hope for daughters
everywhere. In this very moment, we remember our very own and beloved writer, women
rights activist and educationist, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932), lovingly known as
Begum Rokeya-a true genius and trailblazer who celebrated the path of freedom for the
Muslim women in Bengal. She is often considered to be Bengal’s earliest and boldest women
right activist and best woman writer as well. Mohitlal Majumdar (1888-1952), once described
her as the embodiment of the soul and conscience of her age.
The role of Begum Rokeya in the life of Muslim women of Bengal is so immense that
Shamsun Nahar Mahmud (1908-64), biographer and associate of Rokaya, described her as a
‘spider mother’ and famously proclaimed that:
“The fate of the Bengali Muslim women has changed radically within the space of half a
century, and there is no way to deny that this benevolent woman played the most significant
role behind it.” Rokeya was brought up in the strictest form of conservatism practised by elite
Muslims of the time. Consequently, she became the fiercest critic of the system in later years
that gives us with the immense insight she had about life and about her time which we see in
her scathing remark in the essay, “Bengal Women’s Educational Conference” (Bongiyo Nari-
Shikkha Samiti). Her understanding and insight, regarding Islam and mere societal dogma,
give us a mediation to think about the so-called opposing stand of Islam and education of
girls. Instead of blindly blaming Islam for the ignorance and unholy conservatism of that time
Muslims Rokeya quoted from the history to argue in favour of the importance of the
education of Muslim girls:

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Although Islam has successfully prevented the physical killing of baby girls, yet Muslims
have been glibly and frantically wrecking the mind, intellect and judgment of their daughters
till the present day. Many consider it a mark of honour to keep their daughters ignorant and
deprive them of knowledge and understanding of the world by cooping them up within the
four walls of the house.
In 1926, in her address to the Bengal women’s education conference, Rokeya strongly
condemned men for withholding education from women in name of religion. Her poignant
assertion gives a glimpse of the deepness of her thought and idea and pervasiveness of her
understanding. Her comment reminds us the very inadequacy of thought and practice of that
time Bengali Muslims and also her ability to accept that religion is not an opposition to
women rights but social dogmas in the name of religion.
The most beautiful part of Rokeya’s story is not her rhetoric and intellectual poignant but her
action. She was not only an intellectual force of the women rights movement but also an
activist- a combination we seldom see. Brought up in a conservative family environment, and
without any formal education, Rokeya’s life was meant for another ordinary Muslim
housewife. But breaking all shackles, she grew up to become a writer in both Bengali and
English, an activist for the freedom of Muslim women in Bengal and an educationist. In
March 1911, she set up a school named Sakhawat Memorial School for Girls, for the purpose
of educating Muslim girls. Rokeya, who had never stepped into a school in childhood,
became a trailblazer in the education and modernization of Bengali Muslim women.
Today when we are celebrating International Women’s Day and also celebrating continuous
emancipation of woman as an entrepreneur in this country we must look back and remember
this extraordinary woman for her contribution and for setting the stage up for the Muslim
women of Bengal.
Unfortunately, Begum Rokeya had a short married life as her husband died on 3 May 1909.
She had two daughters, but they died in infancy.
Education, Social, and Religious Reform movements in Bengal and Other Areas and
contributions of Begum Rokeya:
Founded one of the earliest Muslim girls' school:

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Despite her personal losses, Begum Rokeya did not sit idle but started working for women's
education and freedom. When her husband was alive he had encouraged his wife to set aside
money to start a school primarily for Muslim women. Five months after his death, and with
the aid of 10,000 rupees he had bestowed for the purpose, Begum Rokeya established a high
school for Muslim girls in her beloved husband's memory, naming it Sakhawat Memorial
Girls' High School. It started in Bhagalpur, Bihar, a traditionally Urdu-speaking area, with
only five students.
But a feud over the property with her late husband's family and their moral objection to her
education activities forced her to close the school down and transfer her activities to Kolkata
(then anglicized to 'Calcutta').
There she opened the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in March 1911 with only eight
pupils. By 1915 the number had risen to eighty-four, and the school was offering a
curriculum that comprised reading and writing in Urdu, gardening, making handicrafts,
cooking, and physical fitness, as well as instruction in the preservation of Islamic cultural and
religious values. Once the school had been inspected and officially approved by the wife of
the viceroy of India, the numbers went up, and by 1930 it was well established as a leading
high school patronized by upper-class families. Although Bengali and English had been
added to the curriculum, the school mandated Muslim standards of modesty in dress and
respected the wishes of those who chose to observe purdah. But in her essays and speeches,
Hossain continued to argue that education for Muslim girls was a positive approach to
retaining traditional culture.,
It remains one of the city's most popular schools for girls and is now run by the state
government of West Bengal.
Going door-to-door to promote learning:
Begum Rokeya ran the school for twenty-four years, braving harsh criticism and various
social obstacles, and made it the best seat of learning for Muslim girls. At first, only non-
Bengali girls used to go to Sakhawat Memorial School. But Begum Rokeya worked hard to
convince Bengali Muslim families to send their daughters to school. She went from house to
house, persuading the parents that education was good for girls and promising that Purda
would be observed at her school.

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Her tireless efforts paid off, with middle-class Muslim girls breaking the taboo against
stepping out of the house to study. She also arranged horse-carriages so that girls could go to
school and return home observing purdah.
Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School gave lessons in recitation from the Quran, along with
explanations, Bangla, English, Urdu, Persian, home nursing, first aid, cooking, sewing,
physical exercise, music etc. Begum Rokeya used to visit other girls' schools to see for
herself the teaching methods employed there and how the schools were run. As there were
not many competent female teachers at that time in Calcutta, Begum Rokeya herself used to
train the teachers she appointed from Madras, Gaya, Agra and other places. It was at her
repeated requests that the government set up the Muslim Women Training School in Calcutta
in 1919. She worked to ensure government funding and social patronage for the institute,
enduring considerable criticism.
Encouraged Bangla in an Urdu environment:
Begum Rokeya left behind many letters in Bangla and English. She had a respect for the
Bangla language. Although Urdu was spoken by the aristocratic Muslims of the time
including her own home she understood that Bangla, spoken by the majority of the Muslims
of Bengal, should be her medium of expression. She mastered Bangla and strongly advocated
its use at the Bangiya Nari Shikkha Sammelan (Convention on Women Literacy in Bengal) in
1927.
One of the first Islamic feminists:
The society was at the forefront of the fight for women's education, employment and their
legal and political rights. Society defrayed the cost of education for a large number of girls
and arranged marriages for many poor girls. It gave shelter to orphans and the destitute and
extended financial help to widows. It also established some businesses for women to earn
economic independence. The society contributed greatly towards the development of Muslim
women in Calcutta. Braving harsh comments and allegations from conservatives, Roquiah
inspired women to join the society. She criticized oppressive social customs forced upon
women that were based upon a corrupted version of Islam, asserting that women fulfilling
their potential as human beings could best display the glory of Allah. Again ahead of her
peers, Begum Rokeya realized that economic independence was also essential if women were
to achieve full emancipation and no longer be dependent upon fathers, brothers and husbands

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for their livelihoods. To that end, she encouraged the revival of craft industries, which
women could successfully carry out at home.
Social reform of Muslim women as agents of change:
Unlike the Hindu women's reform movements, which depended heavily upon legislative
changes, Muslim women's reform was carried out on a more social level around issues of
education, purdah, health care and appropriating a literate modern Muslim identity. In
addition, issues related to marriage, divorce, polygamy and inheritance also figured as
prominent issues, and the application of Sharia law was offered as a revolutionary solution to
the deprived status of Muslim women in 1937. The social reform of Muslim women can be
best viewed from three different angles, a) ulama-led attempts to purify Muslim women and
their religious practices through educating them about the true Islamic teachings, b) Modern
educationist- and reformer-led movements for women's education, c) literary solutions
offered to uplift the moral psyche and provide guidance for the modern Muslim woman's
subjectivity. The underlying theme of all three strands of reform was the overall effort to
come in terms with a modern Muslim identity via manipulating, re-conceptualising and
appropriating the modern Muslim woman.
The ulama idealised women's purity, religiosity, morality and loyalty to Allah and the family
of utmost importance. Women's unconditional submission for the cause of the family was
glorified. Women's religious obligations were considered to be of more significance than that
of men since the zenana was considered to be 'corrupted' by non-Islamic rituals, which was
recognised as a great threat to the Muslim identity since women were the primary caregivers
of children and managers of the household. It was believed that if women were given proper
Islamic education then it would be possible to restore the true Islamic teaching to the entire
community. Thus, within this discourse women became the vehicle through which the desired
code of Islamic sanctions was to be disseminated. This domain of reform is perhaps best
manifested in Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi's exemplary work Bihishti Zawar. Since its
publication at the beginning of the 20th century, this book has become a guide for respectable
Muslim women, it has been translated into many languages and is widely circulated and read
even today. One may ponder about the lasting popularity of this text. The primary reason this
text became so important and durable over centuries is because of the basic egalitarian
premise it sets itself off from. The text claims no innate difference between men and women
and considers women to be equally capable of acquiring knowledge and spiritual height. As
Barbara Metcalf argues, this text is unique in the sense that it differed from Victorian and

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Bengali reform agenda which located women as a locus of home, whereas Bihishti Zewar
“sought to do nothing less than bring women into the high standard of Islamic conformity.

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Works Cited
Parwez, Nazir. Ishwar Chandra Viddyasagar: Social Reform and Empowerment of Women in
Society, Journal of Exclusion Studies, Volume:1 Issue: 2, 1996.
Amin, Sonia. Women and Society in Islam, Sirajul, ed. The History of Bangladesh 1704-
1971 (volume three). Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1992.
Kadir, Abdul, ed. Begum Rokeya Rochonaboli. Dhaka: Bangla Academy 1984.