About Nabadwip Bangavibudha JananiSabha in 1No Paccatol Road College More, Nabadwip

To provide necessary succour and strength to the already waning vigour and vitality of the cultivation of knowledge and boost up its sagging morale, a group of distinguished people came forward and in 1886 came into being “SansakritaVidyaVivardhaniBidagdhaJananiSabha” with Sri Indrachandra Singh, the king of Paikpara as the president and Sri Mahendranath Bhattacharya, a retired deputy magistrate and the eldest son of Rudrakanta Bhattacharya, the renowned scholar of Nabadwip as the secretary.In 1897 the scholars from all over Bengal resolved to rename the Sabha as BangaBibudhaJananiSabha with Sri Kshitish Chandra Roy, the then Maharaja of Nadia as the president and PanditSarveswarSarbabhauma as the secretary. Sri AshutoshMukhopadhya, the then Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University and Hon’bleChief Justice of Calcutta High Court took over the reins in 1906 as the President of the Sabha and continued for long eighteen years till his death in 1924. The Sabha conferred the title of ‘Saraswati’ on Sir Ashutosh who regarded it a great honour to be associated with this intellectual body. In his convocation address on 31st March,1907 he remarked,’I am ready to go with a begging bowl in my hands from door to door to save Nabadwip. By the good grace of God I have adorned many a government high office but I feel myself most honoured the day the scholars of Nabadwip welcomed me as the president of this Sabha.In its 130 year long journey had been associated with this Sabha in different capacities many such great names as Justice DwarakanathChakraborty, Justice Sir Manmathanath Mukherjee, MahamahopadhyayKamakshanathTarkabagish, M.M.ChandidasNyayaTarkatirtha, M.M SitikantaBachaspati, Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjee(son ofNabadwip and the first Indian Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Ramaprasad Mukherjee and PanditSitaramdasOnkarnath Thakur to note a few.

The Sabha had no house of its own to transact business and when in 1935, residential premises of BunoRamnath (known as BunoRamnatherBhita or the PuccaTol- a brick built building erected by courtesy Sri BabulalAgarwal,aweathy student fromLucknow) was purchased by the Sabha from the landlord PurnachandraChowdhury with the financial assistance provided by Late Chandrachud Singh, Maharaja of Manipur, Mohanta Maharaja(chief priest) of Tarakeswar, and a few other donors. BangaBibadhaJananiSabha received financial help from many a landlord of the country and persons interested in education.Mention must not be made of the Maharaja of Coochbehar, the Maharajadhiraj of Burdwan,Srinath Roy, king of Bhagyakul and Kumar Indrachandra Sing of Paikpara.
In the undivided Bengal the activities of the Sabha were extended in over one hundred tols or chatuspathis and there were twenty eight examination centres. A part from awarding the title of ‘Ratna’ of its own, the Sabha organized Adya, Madhya and Upadhi examinations introduced by BangiyaSanskritaSikhaPraishad.Debates, essay writing and recitation competition as well as seminars were also organized all over the state. Gold and silver medals along with stipends or scholarships in cash were also awarded from theendowments offered by distinguished citizens.

But gone arethe golden days. Sheer negligence and callous indifference of the sons of the soil, countrymen and the powers that should have protected and preserved these valuable treasures have taken its toll and allowed the brute thrust of time ravage all. Such foreign names as those of Lord Ronaldsay, Tavernier, the famous French traveller, Sir Streynsham Master, Sir William Jones (the founder of the Asiatic Society who learned Sanskrit from RamlochanKavibhusan of Nabadwip), Dr Carey, H.H.Wilson, Rev. Ward, E.B.Cowell, the Principal of Sanskrit College and almost all distinguished men of letters of Bengal and India have been associated with Nabadwip, this way or other and all stressed the need for preservation and protection of the glorious tradition and heritage of Nabadwip as a celebrated seat of learning and culture. General Earl of Minto and KailashnathKatju,theHon’ble Governor of Bengal recommended officially the need for saving the glorious past of Nabadwip in the fields of Sanskritic and oriental studies from the jaws of decay and death but no effective and comprehensive efforts have been made. Both the foreign rulers of the past and the guardians of the independent India vied with each other in turning deaf ears to the innumerable appeals and prayers of legions of votaries of learning and culture. In Nabadwip, the haloed birth place of Sri Chaitanyathere are now pulsations of commercialized religious activities but the Nabadwip of the yore,the celebrated seat of learning and the much-acclaimed ‘Oxford of Bengal’ is only a thing of the past. It no more throbs with academic excitement of exploring new horizons of knowledge and BangaBibudhaJananiSabha has been reduced only to a name.