Indian educator and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bengali prose were significant. He is known not only for his contribution in the field of educational and social reformation, but also for his literary works and contribution in the development of modern Bengali language. He was the pioneer who understood the problem of the then readers in understanding the complicated Bengali language, whose origin was purely Sanskrit. Thus, he took initiatives for simplifying and modernizing this language.
He also rationalised and simplified the Bengali alphabet and type, which had remained unchanged since Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first (wooden) Bengali type in 1780. He is considered the “father of Bengali prose”.
He received the title ‘Vidyasagar’ from Sanskrit College, Calcutta (from where he graduated), due to his excellent performance in Sanskrit studies and philosophy. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s contribution to literature is immense. His contribution to the alphabet, translation of several Sanskrit books, including Kalidas’s Shankuntala, has helped Bengali literature.
