Vidhusekhar Bhattacharya Sastri (1878-1959)

Vidhusekhar Bhattacharya was born in a traditional Sanskrit Pandit family at Harischandrapur village in MaIda district in 1878.

In 1905, with the approval of Rabindranath, Bhupendranath Sanyal invited Vidhusekhar to join the asrama. His primary duty was to teach Sanskrit to Rathindranath and Santosh Majumdar, but he also taught the little boys of the school. Rabindranath was impressed with his knowledge in Sanskrit and encouraged him to learn Pali for a fruitful understanding of the Buddhist period. In 1919 when the regular teaching and higher studies programme was launched, Vidhusekhar took charge of the studies in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. Later he became Principal of Vidya Bhavana college of higher studies and research. When Visva-Bharati was founded, Vidhusekhar selected the Vedic verse which was to become the motto: Yatra visvam bhavatyekaniam.

From 1936 to 1942, he was Pr6fessor of Sanskrit at Calcutta University and held the Asutosh Chair. In 1936 he was given the title Mahamahopadhyaya by the government. In 1957 Visva-Bharati conferred on him Desikottama in recognition of his contribution to Indological studies.