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In Burdwan town, Vidyasagar was directly and indirectly involved in issues such as widow remarriage, prevention of polygamy, women's education, and the introduction of the Bengali language. While in Burdwan, he established twenty ideal or model schools. The first school was started in Amadpur, Burdwan on 26 August 1855. After that, one school each was established in Jaugram, Khandaghosh, and Daihat that same year. Vidyasagar established the first girls' school on 1 December 1857 in the house of Babu Nabogopal Majumdar of Jaugram. After this, girls' schools were also established in Jamui, Srikrishnapur, Rajarampur, Jot-Srirampur, Daihat, Kashipur, Sanui, Rasulpur, Bantir, Belgachi of this district by 1858. The schools opened for students received government approval. But initially he bore the expenses himself. Raja Mahatab Chand took some of the expenses but later showed reluctance. As a result, some girls' schools were closed. When a girls' school was opened in Mankare, Vidyasagar wrote a letter to the Director of Public Instruction on 30 May 1857 for government assistance. Government assistance of 32 rupees per month was also approved for that school. Under his influence, the landlord of Chakdighi established a free school in his village. Many others were inspired. Vidyasagar's role in the spread of education in this district is unforgettable.

While he was the principal of Hindu College, Vidyasagar took up the assignment of schools inspector in four districts including Burdwan in 1854. His office was at the junction of P.C. Mitra Lane and Parkas Road in that town. Who is this P. C. Mitra? This is Parychand Mitra, a Bengali writer. Although Parychand Mitra's original home was in Hooghly, his father earned a lot of money by working under the British in Kolkata, and with that money he bought a lot of land in Hooghly and Burdwan and established a landlord or zamindari system. To look after that zamindari, he built a large cottage-style garden house in Burdwan city on that street, which is now called P. C. Mitra Lane. At that time, Vidyasagar lived in the garden house of his friend Parychand, which Vidyasagar jokingly named ‘Pary Babu's Hotel’. Parychand also came to Burdwan from time to time to meet friends and to visit the zamindari. It was during this time that Vidyasagar met the king of Burdwan Mahatab Chand (Burdwan was a princely state in West Bengal). King's close friend Rasik Chandra Roy was a poet and friend of Vidyasagar.

As to why Vidyasagar initially came forward with widow marriage plan, many consider the statement of his younger brother is more acceptable. The premature marriage of the girl bride of a professor at Sanskrit College, inspired Vidyasagar to take up this issue she became a widow prematurely. One day he heard that the girl had not eaten all day. Once he was discussing the condition of the local schools with his father, when his mother came there crying' and mentioned the widowhood of a girl and said to him 'In the scriptures that you have been studying for so long, is there any way for widows?' His father also asked what provisions the scripture writers have made for widows in the scriptures? After that, after 'churning the ocean of scriptures', he wrote the article titled 'Should Widow Marriage Be Popular?', which was published in a leading magazine in February 1854. After that, there was a great stir. Finally, on 26 July 1856, the Widow Marriage Act was approved. All these writings were done during Vidyasagar's stay in Burdwan.

On 7 December 1856, the first widow marriage was performed in the presence of Vidyasagar at the house of Rajkrishna Banerjee in Kolkata. And the first widow marriage outside Kolkata took place in 1857 at Palashadanga in Burdwan, in the presence of Vidyasagar. The bride was Kalimati, the 12-year-old widowed daughter of Brahmananda Mukherjee. Mahatab Chand also helped Vidyasagar financially in various widow marriages.

Vidyasagar stayed in Burdwan for four and a half years - from 1854 to 1857. Then he came for the second time in 1869, for a short period. In 1866, a famine occurred in Burdwan. The suffering did not end here, three years later, in 1869, a malaria epidemic took shape in Burdwan and Hooghly. Many villages and towns began to become deserted. During this time, Vidyasagar opened a relief camp and a medical camp in the Kamalsayar area of ​​Burdwan. At that time, he also stayed in the garden house of Parychand. Vidyasagar visited several slums and surrounding areas adjacent to Burdwan city and served the affected people. Maharaj Mahatab Chand and doctor Ganganarayan Mitra helped in various ways in this regard. Not only that, when Vidyasagar applied to the then British government for medicines and doctors, arrangements were also made for him. His third brother Shambhu Chandra Vidyaratna wrote, ‘There were poor and helpless Muslims living around this village. He used to give water to the boys and girls of this village every morning. He used to give money and clothes to those whose clothes he saw were worn out and torn. He gave capital to several people to open shops. At that time, Vidyasagar paid all the expenses for the marriage of a Muslim girl. ‘Sanjivani’ media of that time wrote, ‘when there was a big malaria fever in Burdwan, we heard while sitting in Calcutta (now Kolkata) that Vidyasagar had gone there at his own expense with doctors and medicines; and he was going door to door to treat everyone, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, caste, etc. He was sitting in a carriage, a Muslim boy may be on his lap.’ Such generosity was rare in a society ravaged by caste discrimination.

Being away from the hustle and bustle of Calcutta and the commotion of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, Vidyasagar’s writing expanded greatly during his first stay in Burdwan. In 1855, he wrote Barnaparichoy Part I, sitting in the garden house of Pary Chand in Burdwan, and in 1856, Barnaparichoy Part II. In 1855, he wrote “Bhrantivilas” sitting in the same house, and in the same year, he wrote “Widow Marriage Should Be Popular, and a Proposal on It”. While writing on Barnaparichoy and widow marriage, Vidyasagar took the invaluable library of Mahatab Chand a lot of help – to find various ancient and rare manuscripts and scriptures.

Among the close friends of Parychand Mitra were Vidyasagar and Radhanath Sikdar (mathematician, who determined the height of Everest working at Survey of India). It is said that sitting in Parychand's garden house in Burdwan, the three of them planned a monthly magazine that would be suitable for the general public, especially women. The magazine, which was also called ‘Masik Patrika’, was published from 1855 under the editorship of Radhanath Sikdar. The preface of the magazine stated – ‘This magazine is being printed for the general public, especially women, and all the proposals should be written in the language in which we usually speak’.

The house in Burdwan where Vidyasagar lived and the house where Parychand wrote the first novel in Bengali, no longer exists. In the course of time, that house has been demolished and replaced by another building. Has Burdwan done anything to preserve the memory of Vidyasagar? After Vidyasagar's passing, his close associates formed the Burdwan Vidyasagar Charitable Society in 1897 to help widows on his model. In the course of time, this society has also been closed. A building in Burdwan University, near Kamalsair, has been named after Vidyasagar. Besides, the name of the Education Sangsad Bhavan is also named after Vidyasagar. And yes, there is also a road named after Vidyasagar - Vidyasagar Lane. But the people of Burdwan know the name of that road as Goodshades Road.

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