2 j LIFE AND ; WORK OF SIR JAGADIS C. BOSE 



* now outside that ctf-jute^ultivation, so that its old character 

 may still be seen. The Mahommedan population is con- 

 siderable ; but for Hindus it is interesting as rich in tradi- 

 tional culture, even in sacred associations ; and of course 

 fifty years ago it was much more so. Vikrampur is in- 

 cluded in the Dacca district ; and the village of Rarikhal in 

 Vikrampur is the family home of the Boses, this being about 

 35 miles west of Dacca city. Jagadis Chunder Bose was 

 born on November 30, 1858, and his early childhood was 

 mainly spent at Faridpur, which is the centre of the next 

 district, 35 miles farther west again. These distances are 

 as the crow flies ; to get from one place to another the 

 communication was by river and thus circuitous. 



Vikrampur has from very ancient times been famous 

 as a seat of learning. From surrounding districts, even 

 from distant provinces of India, youths were wont to come 

 to the ' Tols ' Sanskrit schools kept by Brahmins of the 

 old type and learning : in fact we may think of Vikrampur 

 as till lately a University centre of the type of bygone ages. 

 Of this a good deal was surviving fifty years ago, and some- 

 thing lingers to this day. Tradition is extant of there being 

 a Man Mandir or astronomical observatory where transit 

 of stars and planets were observed. Why this localisation ? 

 As so commonly throughout India, definite historic records 

 are lacking, though oral traditions of saints and sages used 

 to be rife. Moreover the evidence of surrounding monu- 

 ments, and yet more numerous ruins, proves Vikrampur to 

 have been a peculiarly rich and active centre of Buddhist 

 culture : hence it is but natural that the Hindu revival which 

 followed this should have been active here, and so strike 

 deep and firm roots in its turn. 



These ancient cultures, then, have their influence in 

 producing a population interested in education, affected 

 by ideas and ideals : hence it is not solely for Bose's in- 

 dividual sake that a new and ambitious school is at present 

 being founded in his ancestral village to bear his name, 

 but also as an expression of the old cultural interest, here 



