Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/596

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SANSKRIT PUBLICATIONS.
549

him on the point. The latter decided upon placing the Estate in the hands of the Court of Wards. Kartik Chandra thereupon requested him to persuade the Maharani to take that course. Vidyasagar did as he was desired. He went to Krishnaghar and waited upon Bhuvanesvari. After much persuasion, he succeeded in convincing her of the advisability of the step. The Estate was accordingly made over to the Court of Wards on the 6th January, 1871. It soon prospered under the able management of the Court; all its former debts were cleared off. The present Maharaja Kshitis Chandra Ray Bahadur, when he attained his majority and took over charge of the Estate in his own hands, received from the Court of Wards, a sum of two lakhs and ten thousand rupees in ready money. Kshitis Chandra had been placed in the Wards' Institution, where he received his training.

In 1871, Vidyasagar published new editions of the Sanskrit "Uttara-Charita" and "Abhijnana-Sakuntala" with his annotations. The two prefaces of these publications are very good pieces of Bengali prose reading, displaying his powers of the same sweet, serious language, the same melodious flow of elegant style, as in his former works, and discussing concisely, in a short compass, the high talents and abilities of the two immortal poets, Bhavabhuti and Kalidas.

Besides these two publications, he issued correct