Vishwanath Datta

Vishwanath Datta (1835 — 25 February 1884) was a Bengali lawyer, philanthropist and novelist. He was the father of Swami Vivekananda, Mahendranath Dutta and Bhupendranath Dutta. Early life Vishwanath was born to an aristocratic Hindu family of North Calcutta. His father Durgaprasad (1816—1850/55) had preferred the life of Sannyas and left home when Vishwanath was only six years old. His mother Shyamasundari Devi was an educated woman. She wrote a Bengali poetical work “Gangabhakti Tarangaini” (Bengali: গঙ্গাভক্তি তরঙ্গিনী). Durgaprasad and Shyamasundari had two children - a daughter, who died at a young age, and then a son, Vishwanath. Shyamasundari died of cholera in 1847. At the time of his mother's death, Vishwanath was only 12 years old. The now orphaned Vishwanath was brought up by his uncle Kaliprasad Datta and his wife Vishweshwari Devi. It so happened that in somewhere between 1845 and 1846, Durgaprasad returned to Calcutta. He was recognised by one of his neighbours who locked him in a small room in his house so that he cannot escape and remain in a desperate condition as a sannyasi. He was locked in this room for 3 days. At last, on the third day the neighbour's wife Sarita Devi took pity on him and helped him escape from the house. He entered in Gourmohan Addy's school or Oriental Seminary. After completion of graduation, in 1859, Datta worked as a clerk under an attorney, Charles Peter. Career Datta was an enlightened person of the 19th century, free from religious superstitions, known for his charity and liberal outlook. He was well versed in Sanskrit, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Urdu languages.