Remembering Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, The Man Who Championed Widow Remarriage In India, On His Birth Anniversary

On

this day in history, September 26, 1820, in a humble village in Bengal, a boy was born who would grow up to rewrite the fate of countless women in India. Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, better known as Vidyasagar, was a Sanskrit scholar and a reformer whose fight against social orthodoxy brought about one of the most groundbreaking changes in Indian society: the right of widows to remarry.Today, on his birth anniversary, his legacy still echoes, especially in Kolkata’s 48A Kailash Bose Street, a quiet residence now seeking heritage status. This was the very house where, in 1856, the country’s first widow remarriage took place under his stewardship.

The Courage to Challenge Orthodoxy

The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act of 1856, passed on July 16 that year, was largely the result of Vidyasagar’s relentless campaign. Armed with ancient texts and logic, he argued that widow remarriage was sanctioned within Hindu shastras, directly challenging the conservative Brahmins who opposed any reform.Yet, the passing of the law was only the beginning. A newspaper report in The Englishman from November 1856 documented how societal resistance remained so strong that even learned men abandoned remarriage plans under family pressure. One judge’s pundit from Murshidabad, despite his progressive intent, was forced to relent when his own mother threatened to disown him if he married a widow.For Vidyasagar, the Act was not just about legislation, it was about breaking centuries of social stigma.

The First Widow Marriage

Less than six months after the Act came into force, history was made. On December 7, 1856, at Rajkrishna Bannerjee’s two-storey residence at 12 Sukeas Street (now 48A Kailash Bose Street), an eleven-year-old widow named Kalimati Devi was remarried to Shrishchandra Vidyaratna, a young academic at Sanskrit College.Kalimati’s story was tragically common for her time. She was married at the age of four, and became a widow at six, and condemned to a life of seclusion. Vidyasagar himself officiated the remarriage, standing as both reformer and shield against the wave of hostility from orthodox groups.This very step turned the modest home into a historic landmark, remembered as the cradle of India’s widow remarriage movement.Read: Subhash Chandra Bose, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, And Many Other Freedom Fighters Turned Durga Puja Into A Symbol Against The British Raj

A House of History, Awaiting Recognition

More than 160 years later, that same residence stands in fading glory. It was once a vibrant hub of reform, but later became a quiet, partly-abandoned structure with peeling yellow walls, rusted iron railings, and overgrown plants. However, the house has been restored.Following this, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has initiated the process of granting it heritage status. Locals and heritage enthusiasts believe that the house deserves recognition as a living monument to Vidyasagar’s courage and vision.

Vidyasagar: The Scholar Who Chose Society Over Privilege

He was born into a humble household in Birsingha village, his thirst for knowledge was so intense that he studied under street lamps, unable to afford gaslight at home. Through scholarships, he rose to graduate from Sanskrit College in Calcutta in 1841, mastering Sanskrit grammar, Vedanta, literature, and astronomy.However, his brilliance was not just confined to academics. He became the Head Pandit of Fort William College and later a pioneering educationist, introducing girls’ schools, modernising the curriculum with English, science, and mathematics, and making Sunday a weekly holiday. His reforms extended far beyond classrooms, He fought against polygamy, child marriage, and social inequalities that stifled women’s rights.

Vidyasagar Was More Than Just a Reformer

Vidyasagar’s contribution to literature and education remains vast, with works such as Betaal Panchavinsati (1847), Banglar Itihaas (1848), and his Bengali translations of Shakuntala and Mahabharata. But what immortalises him in history is his humanism, his unflinching belief that society must be reformed from within, with compassion and logic.