Dhaka, Oct. 2 -- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891), a scholar, writer, educationist, humanist pundit, social reformer and philanthropist, was born on September 26 in 1820 in a poor brahman family in a village in Medinipur. His father Thakur Das Bandhyay was a clerk at a shop in Kolkata.

September 26 marked the 200th birth anniversary of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Ishwar was sent to a village pathshala (primary) at the age of five, but three years later, in December 1828, he was brought to Kolkata, where he briefly attended a pathshala, and later was admitted to Sanskrit college in June 1829. An exceptionally brilliant student, he earned the title of Vidyasagar (an ocean of learning) by 1839. At the end of his studies, which included...