The founders of the Paramhansa Mandali founded in Maharashtra believed in which one of the following?

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2021 GAT Q81?

D. Correct — D, one God and in breaking caste rules. The Paramhansa Mandali, a secret socio-religious reform society founded in Maharashtra around 1849, held that there is one God and worked to break down caste distinctions. On admission, members were expected to eat food prepared by people of the so-called lower castes, a deliberate rejection of caste taboos. It grew out of the rationalist reform current associated with the Manav Dharma Sabha and reformers such as Dadoba Pandurang. Its beliefs were the very opposite of glorifying caste or forbidding widow remarriage.

(a)Social distancing along caste lines
(b)Glorification of caste system
(c)Forbidding widow remarriage
(d)One God and in breaking caste rules

Answer

Why

Correct — D, one God and in breaking caste rules. The Paramhansa Mandali, a secret socio-religious reform society founded in Maharashtra around 1849, held that there is one God and worked to break down caste distinctions. On admission, members were expected to eat food prepared by people of the so-called lower castes, a deliberate rejection of caste taboos. It grew out of the rationalist reform current associated with the Manav Dharma Sabha and reformers such as Dadoba Pandurang. Its beliefs were the very opposite of glorifying caste or forbidding widow remarriage.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Social distancing along caste lines — The Mandali attacked caste barriers; it did not seek to keep castes apart.
(b)
Glorification of caste system — It rejected the caste system and worked to break its rules, the opposite of glorifying it.
(c)
Forbidding widow remarriage — Reformers of this stream supported widow remarriage and social reform; they did not forbid it.

Concept

The Paramhansa Mandali was one of the earliest 19th-century reform societies of western India. Because openly defying caste invited social punishment, it functioned as a secret society: members believed in one God, opposed idolatry and caste, and pledged to break caste rules — famously by sharing food cooked by lower-caste people. It is regarded as a forerunner of the later Prarthana Samaj.

The clue 'secret society ... in Maharashtra' signals a reform body that quietly attacked caste and idolatry. That immediately rules out any option that upholds caste or bans widow remarriage.

Key facts

Founded around 1849 in Maharashtra (Bombay); it operated as a secret society.
Its members believed in one God and opposed idolatry.
Members broke caste rules, e.g. by eating food cooked by lower-caste people.
It grew from the Manav Dharma Sabha stream (Dadoba Pandurang) and preceded the Prarthana Samaj (1867).

Study next

Prarthana Samaj (1867)Manav Dharma Sabha (Surat, 1844) and Dadoba PandurangBrahmo Samaj and monotheistic reformWidow remarriage movement (Vishnu Shastri Pandit)Jyotirao Phule and the Satyashodhak Samaj

Common traps

Confusing the Paramhansa Mandali with Ramakrishna Paramahansa or the Ramakrishna Mission — unrelated.
Assuming a caste-reform society would still bar widow remarriage.

Asked on the beliefs of the Paramhansa Mandali — monotheism and the breaking of caste rules.

Related PYQs

NDA_GAT_2025_II_Q812025Open & attempt →

Match List I with List II and select the answer using the code given below the Lists: List I (Reformer) A. Vishnu Shastri Pundit B. Karsondas Mulji C. Debendranath Tagore D. Raja Ram Mohan Roy List II (Social Work/Text) 1. Vedic Physics : Scientific Origin of Hinduism 2. Widow Remarriage Association 3. Satya Prakash 4. Tattvabodhini Sabha

(a) 1 3 4 2
(b) 1 4 3 2
(c) 2 3 4 1
(d) 2 4 3 1

Answer(c) 2 3 4 1

Same theme of 19th-century social-religious reformers, including western-India figures (Vishnu Shastri Pandit on widow remarriage, Karsondas Mulji's 'Satya Prakash') who belong to the same reform milieu as the Paramhansa Mandali.

NDA_GAT_2019_II_Q1342019Open & attempt →

Consider the following statements related to Dayanand's idea of social reform: 1. Dayanand's reform envisaged a social order, where different castes performed functions suitable to their status determined by merit. 2. Dayanand's 'robust Vedic counterpart' challenged the masculine West that had enslaved the Aryavarta. Which of the statement/s given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer(c) Both 1 and 2

Another strand of the 19th-century social-reform question type, testing a reformer's stance on caste and society — the same category of socio-religious reform to which the Paramhansa Mandali belongs.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Paramhansa Mandali of western India functioned as a secret society mainly because
- (a)it was a political revolutionary group
- (b)openly defying caste rules invited social punishment
- (c)it was banned by the British government
- (d)it opposed British education
Answer(b) openly defying caste rules invited social punishment — so its anti-caste activity stayed secret.
practice — not a real PYQ
The Paramhansa Mandali is regarded as a forerunner of which later Maharashtra reform body?
- (a)Arya Samaj
- (b)Prarthana Samaj
- (c)Ramakrishna Mission
- (d)Aligarh Movement
Answer(b) Prarthana Samaj — the monotheistic, anti-caste reform society founded in Bombay in 1867.