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Mrityunjay Vidyalankar (c 1762-1819) scholar and pundit of fort william college, was born in Midnapore district. Mrityunjay Vidyalankar was a Radi Brahmin and his family name was Chattopadhyaya. He initially studied with the court scholar of natore. He also studied for some time in
Kolkata. Mrityunjay was proficient in both Bangla and
Sanskrit. On the recommendation of william carey he joined the Department of Bangla at Fort William College on 4 May 1801 as head pandit. In 1805 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit. He resigned from the post in 1913 and assumed the responsibilities of judge pandit under Justice Sir Francis Mackonton. On the suggestion of William Carey, Mrityunjay wrote Batrish Singhasan (1802) in Bangla prose for the civilian students of Fort William College. Later, he wrote Hitopadesh (1808), Rajabali (1808), Prabodhachandrika (written in 1813, printed in 1833) and Vedantachandrika (1817). He is thus one of the early writers who contributed to the making of Bangla prose.
He was a member of the committee constituted for formulating
the rules for hindu
college (1817), and a member of the governing body of the calcutta
school-book society (1817). In 1818 he went on a year-long
pilgrimage to Gaya, Benares, and Prayag. On his way back home, he died
near Murshidabad in mid-1819. [Md Harun-or-Rashid] |
