Where was the Hindu College established in the year 1791?

Correct — A. The institution SSC means is the Sanskrit College at Benaras, set up in 1791 by Jonathan Duncan, the East India Company's Resident at Benares.

It was a state-funded college for Sanskrit learning and Hindu law, and it is the ancestor of today's Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Option (a) is the keyed city.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Patna — Patna has no foundation of 1791 in this sequence. Duncan built his college where he was posted, and his posting was the Benares Residency.
• (c)
  Kolkata — Kolkata does have a Hindu College, but it is the 1817 Calcutta institution linked with David Hare and Raja Rammohan Roy — a different college, twenty-six years later.
• (d)
  Mathura — Mathura carries no Company-era college of 1791. The early Company foundations you are expected to know sit at Calcutta or Benares.

Early British education policy in India ran through a small set of state-funded oriental institutions, set up to train men who could work with Indian law and Indian texts rather than to spread English.

The pattern is the Calcutta Madrasa of 1781 under Warren Hastings for Muslim law, then the Sanskrit College at Benaras in 1791 under Jonathan Duncan for Sanskrit learning and Hindu law.

English-medium teaching arrives later, with Fort William College in 1800 and the privately funded Hindu College at Calcutta in 1817.

Key facts

• Jonathan Duncan, the Company's Resident at Benares, founded the Sanskrit College there in 1791.
• Warren Hastings founded the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 for the study of Muslim law.
• The Hindu College at Calcutta was founded in 1817 and later became Presidency College.
• Fort William College was set up at Calcutta in 1800 under Governor-General Wellesley.

Common traps

• Reading Hindu College as the Calcutta institution of 1817 and answering Kolkata.
• Crediting the Benaras college to Warren Hastings, who founded the Calcutta Madrasa instead.

No directly related past PYQ was found.