[Excerpted from Chakuri- sketches from his years in service]
"In 1842, a civilian with an aristocratic background named Robert Cost was a student of advanced courses at Fort William College. My Agraja was then the Head Pandit at the college. Mr. Cost would occasionally engage Agraja in conversations on a variety of topics. Mr. Cost was both intelligent and learned, and derived much pleasure talking to my Agraja. One day he placed a request before Agraja, "It would bring me much happiness if you were to write a couplet or two about me in Sanskrit." Thus persuaded, Agraja wrote the following slokas for him:
Sriman Robert Costohadya vidyalayamupagatah |
Soujanyapurnairalapairnitarang maamatoshayat ||1||
Sa hi sadgunasampannah sadacharatah sada |
Prasannavadano nityang jivatribdashatang sukhi ||2||*
* The meaning of the above slokas will not be discussed here. MRC.
Mr. Cost appreciated the slokas, and offered two hundred rupees to Agraja as reward. However, instead of accepting the reward, Agraja recommended that the money be deposited at the College. Thereby, the funds could be used as a 50-rupee award for one student each year who would write the best poem or essay in the Sanskrit writing competition. This plan was implemented, and indeed the winner of the competition won the Cost Award at Sanskrit College four years in a row. Mr. Cost was most impressed by Agraja's generosity and selflessness. In the first year of the award, Agraja posed the question- Discuss the relative merits of Knowledge, Intelligence and Modesty, and argue which of the three is most important via Sanskrit prose. The competition was held at Fort William College, and Nilmadhav Bhattacharya was the winner that year. The competition in the second year dealt with writing poems; Dinabandhu Nyayaratna and Srishchandra Vidyaratna finished at the top. It turned out that Srish's composition had grammatical errors, while Dinabandhu's did not. Yet, given that Dinabandhu was his (ICV's) brother, lest people raise questions (of partiality), Agraja selected Srish for the award. ".
[Excerpted from Chakuri- sketches from his years in service]
" During his service at Fort William College, my Agraja developed very close friendships with several prominent English civilians of the time, including Robert Cost, Chapman, Sir Cecil Beadon [then Lt. Governor of the Bengal Presidency- note Kolkata has a road, Beadon Street, dedicated to his name- MRC], Gray, Grand, (Sir Frederick James) Halliday [the first Lt. Governor of the Bengal Presidency- MRC], Lord Brown, Ashley Eden (then Secretary to the Government of Bengal under Cecil Beadon and others- MRC] and several others. The civilians and administrators almost uniformly held him in very high regard [these interactions, often aimed at social upliftment, bear testimony to a somewhat more benign aspect of English administration in the Bengal Presidency, and their respectful collaborations with prominent Indians of the time- MRC]. It would so happen that if a junior civilian were unable to pass the required examinations, he would have to return to England. Consequently, Mr. Marshall out of kindness would suggest to Agraja that their marks be inflated a little to enable them to pass. Despite such appeals from his superior, Agraja held fast to what was righteous. If pressed any harder, he would shake his head and say, "Rather than be party to any injustice, I will resign instead." This earned him much respect from the civilian students and of course Mr. Marshall.
[Excerpted from Chakuri- sketches from his years in service]
" Once, for a specific task on behalf of the Sanskrit College, Agraja had to visit the Principal of the Hindu College, Mr. Carr. For the entire time Agraja stood in Mr. Carr's office to discuss with him the purpose of his visit, the Englishman placed his feet with the leather shoes upon his table top, facing his visitor. This discourtesy greatly offended Agraja. Some days later, to solicit a special favor on behalf of the Hindu College, Mr. Carr had to visit Agraja at the Sanskrit College. Agraja remembered well the measure of courtesy he had received earlier from Mr. Carr. Upon hearing about the Sahib's visit, Agraja lifted his feet with the leather sandals upon his table, and did not bother to greet or welcome the visitor. The Sahib stood there for a while, conversing with him, thereafter feeling insulted and embarrassed, left Agraja's office in a huff. He later filed a complaint with the Secretary of the Education Council, Dr. Moyt, to the effect that, "I had visited the Assistant Secretary of Sanskrit College on assignment from the Hindu College. His discourtesy towards me was most offensive. No other European would have tolerated such rude behavior." The Education Council, therefore, sent notice to Agraja, asking for an explanation. To this, Agraja responded in writing, "Sometime earlier, the Sahib had displayed a similar discourtesy towards me, that is to say, he had lifted his feet with leather shoes upon his table while conversing with me." Upon being informed thus, the Secretary of Education was much impressed, and said with an agreeable smile, "I have hitherto never come across a more upright and righteous person than Pandit Vidyasagar in all of Bengal. This is the reason we hold the Pandit in higher reverence and admiration than any other Bengali. There is not a second person in Bengal comparable to Vidyasagar." For as long as Dr. Moyt remained Secretary of the Education Council, he would not undertake any action without consulting with Vidyasagar. "..
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