Prarthana Samaj was established in ________.

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Maharashtra. The Prarthana Samaj was founded in Bombay in 1867 by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, and grew into a major vehicle of Maharashtrian social reform after Mahadev Govind Ranade joined and pushed its work on widow remarriage, women's education and opposition to caste restrictions, alongside monotheistic worship broadly inspired by the Bengal Brahmo Samaj.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Bengal was the base of the Brahmo Samaj (1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy), a related but separate monotheistic reform movement — not the Prarthana Samaj.  (b) No major 19th-century reform samaj of this name was founded in Gujarat; the Prarthana Samaj's home was Bombay in Maharashtra.  (c) Not associated with the founding of the Prarthana Samaj, which began and worked chiefly in Bombay and western India.

Concept: The Prarthana Samaj (1867) was a Maharashtra-based theistic reform movement influenced by Bengal's Brahmo Samaj, but distinctly regional in focus — it emphasised practical social reform (widow remarriage, women's education, inter-caste dining) over theological debate.

State PCS 2022 Q67 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q67 — History PYQ with Answer