ABSTRACT
Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, born as Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was one of the key figures of India’s renaissance in the nineteenth century. A polymath in the true sense of the term, he was an educationist, a social reformer, and, above all, a philanthropist extraordinaire. He dedicated his life to women’s empowerment and prosperity through education and social reforms. For all his passionate zeal for the uplifting of women and downtrodden and distressed people, he was also adoringly called “dayar sagar” in Bengali, which literally means “ocean of kindness”. Although deeply influenced by modern Western knowledge, rationalism, and strength of character based on the ideals of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, he always stood upright with his native identity (like dress and language) and dared to challenge the colonisers when the need arose.
