Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Parmahansa Mandali was founded in Bengal by Swami Vivekananda 2. Prarthana Samaj was started in Maharashtra with the aim of reforming Hindu religious thought and practice Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — B, 2 only. Statement 2 is right: the Prarthana Samaj was founded in Bombay on 31 March 1867 by Atmaram Pandurang, with Waman Abaji Modak, and its declared purpose was the reform of Hindu religious thought and practice — it worked against caste restrictions, child marriage and the ban on widow remarriage, and for women's education. M. G. Ranade joined afterwards and made it the leading reform body of western India. Statement 1 fails on every element it asserts. The Paramahansa Mandali was founded in 1849 in Bombay, that is in Maharashtra and not Bengal, and its moving figure was Dadoba Pandurang, not Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda belongs to a later generation altogether: he founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.

• (a)1 only — It accepts a statement that is wrong on the region, the founder and the period all at once. The Paramahansa Mandali was a Bombay body of 1849, four years before Vivekananda was born.
• (c)Both 1 and 2 — The Prarthana Samaj statement is sound, but pairing it with the Paramahansa Mandali claim carries the error along.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — It rejects a statement that is plainly true. The Prarthana Samaj was a Maharashtra body and religious reform was exactly its object.

Nineteenth-century reform in western India runs through a short chain of organisations. The Paramahansa Mandali of 1849 was a secret society whose members broke caste rules privately and worked against idolatry. The Prarthana Samaj of 1867 was its public successor, shaped by Keshab Chandra Sen's visit to Bombay and modelled loosely on the Brahmo Samaj. Ranade later carried the same energy into the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha of 1870 and the National Social Conference of 1887.

Region and generation are the two checks that settle almost every item of this type. Brahmo Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission and Vivekananda belong to Bengal; Paramahansa Mandali, Prarthana Samaj, Satyashodhak Samaj and Ranade belong to Maharashtra; Arya Samaj to Punjab and western India through Dayananda. A statement that moves a Maharashtra body to Bengal and hands it to a Bengali monk breaks both checks at once. It is also worth remembering that Atmaram Pandurang, not Ranade, founded the Prarthana Samaj — the pairing 'Prarthana Samaj and M. G. Ranade' is a standard false match.

• The Prarthana Samaj was founded on 31 March 1867 in Bombay by Atmaram Pandurang, with Waman Abaji Modak.
• M. G. Ranade joined later and made it prominent, but was not its founder.
• The Paramahansa Mandali was founded in 1849 in Bombay, associated with Dadoba Pandurang.
• Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, in Bengal.
• Ranade also co-founded the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1870 and the National Social Conference in 1887.

• Pairing the Prarthana Samaj with Ranade, who joined it rather than founded it.
• Placing the Paramahansa Mandali in Bengal because reform movements are associated with Calcutta.
• Stretching Vivekananda's dates backwards; he was born in 1863, after the Mandali was formed.

Asked as a two-statement item where one statement is wrong on region, founder and date together — the examiner's way of making a single sentence carry three checkable claims.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 at Bombay by

  • (a)M. G. Ranade
  • (b)Atmaram Pandurang
  • (c)Keshab Chandra Sen
  • (d)Gopal Hari Deshmukh

  Answer(b) Atmaram Pandurang — Ranade joined later and became its best-known figure.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which organisation was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897?

  • (a)Prarthana Samaj
  • (b)Arya Samaj
  • (c)Ramakrishna Mission
  • (d)Paramahansa Mandali

  Answer(c) Ramakrishna Mission — the others belong to Maharashtra, Punjab and Bombay respectively.