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Early Life.
Mrityunjay Vidyalankar was born in the year 1762 in Midnapur district, which at that time was under the provincial control of Orissa. He belonged to an orthodox Hindu family. He completed his study in Sanskrit from the court of the king of Natore and soon after metamorphosed into a Sanskrit scholar.

Contribution towards education in Bengal.
In the 19th century when Bengal was experiencing the dire need of learning English, institutions were being set to help students learn English. In order to provide elementary information to aid the students, Calcutta School-Book Society was established. The Calcutta School Book Society was the only established platform which got association from people belonging to varied society, culture and situation. Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, along with eminent personalities like Ram komal Sen, Maulvi Abdul Hamid joined the society. Vidyalankar was the follower of William Cury, under whose recommendation he was given the opportunity to serve as an educator in the Fort William's College in 1801. After serving as a pundit in the Sanskrit department, he was allocated as the Head Pundit of the same department again on the recommendation of William Cury. He served the department until the year 1816.

Contribution to Bengali Literature
Mrityunjay Vidyalankar brought a new wave to the prose writing concerning Bengal. Vidyalankar created a gap between the written form and the spoken form of the language. Invoking the use of more Sanskrit words over Persian and Arabic word, Vidyalankar created a new form of prose writing. Vidyalankar translated various books including Batrish Singhasan (1802), Hitopadesh (1808), Rajabali (1808) and Prabodhachandrika (written in 1813, printed in 1833). He also wrote Vedantachandrika (1817). Although these are works of translation, the books gained originality because of their exclusive style of writing.

Rajabali
Among various works of Vidyalankar, Rajabali is demands attention. The book deals with the history of kings and emperors from the beginning of 'Kaliyuga' till the power was snatched from Bengal by the British. Although the belonged the historical genre of writing, the narrative was more of a story telling than historical. The book deserves attention for being the first attempt at a systematic historical writing. At the outset of the book, Vidyalankar jotted down the names of different 'Desas' (countries) of India in multiple directions. As the book contained list of almost all the countries located in varied direction, it provided a geographical knowledge to some extent. Vidlyalankar did not rest here. Apart from providing the various countries, he kept on describing the rule of different dynasties in different 'Desas' at that time in a progressive manner. Vidyalankar, not only mentioned about the stable, long running dynasties, but the description of quickly changing rules in northern and north Western India with the onset of the of Islamic rule was provided in the book.'Jati Varna' (caste) identity of different Hindu rulers were also noted in the book. The book also contained brief description of Raja Bhartriharl, the Satavahanas, the Senas of Bengal, the Mughal Emperors, the prominent Amirs and Omrahas down to the provincial Sultans and Nawabs like AldVardi, Suja-ud-daulah and Mir Kasim along with 7 mythical tales of the court of Indra or Vikramaditya. Although the book fails to satisfy the norms of its genre, the efficacy of the book lies in being the chronicle of the early expression of the historical thinking of the Bengali educated class.

Death
Mrityunjay Vidyalankar died in the year 1819.