Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was among those people, whose genius is recognisable since childhood. But also, he was not one born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He did not get have a comfortable life like Rabindranath Tagore or Ram Mohan Roy. He was also not one of those who either criticised or praised Hinduism with half-baked knowledge.
He was so learned a pandit (scholar), that he criticised traditional pandits who did not adequately encourage the research of modern scientific truths, and instead immersed themselves in false pride, that all knowledge and science already exists in their religious texts. He said this after being irritated by the indiscriminate praise of Sanskrit pedantic tradition, by JR Ballantine, principal of Banaras Sanskrit College.
Once, when he was advised to make a pilgrimage to Kashi-Vishwanath, he responded saying, “for me, my father is Vishwanath and my mother, Devi Annapurna herself”. Moreover, Vidyasagar spent the last 18 years of his life caring for the Santhal tribals in present-day Jharkhand.