On this day Ram Kamal Bhattacharya, a brilliant scholar of Sanskrit College, who had been appointed headmaster of Calcutta Normal School, died by suicide. He was 26.
Ram Kamal, like his younger brother Krishna Kamal, was a favourite student of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. He was a classical scholar, a mathematician and a translator. He stood first among Sanskrit College students in the senior scholarship examination. As a reward for this, Vidyasagar personally gave him a copy of the Mahabharata.
Ram Kamal compiled and translated a selection of Francis Bacon’s essays. He also wrote a book on Euclidean geometry. In his brief life, despite having problems of eyesight, he wrote several other books, which remained unpublished.
