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Q89 (IAS/2018) History & Culture › Modern India (Pre-1857) › Colonial education policy Official Key

With reference to educational institutions during colonial rule in India, consider the following pairs : Institution Founder 1. Sanskrit College at Benaras - William Jones 2. Calcutta Madarsa - Warren Hastings 3. Fort William College - Arthur Wellesley Which of the pairs given above is/are correct ?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: B
Explanation

The correct answer is option B (2 only) because only the pairing of Calcutta Madarsa with Warren Hastings is accurate.

In 1781, Warren Hastings set up the Calcutta Madrasah for the study and teaching of Muslim law and related subjects[1], making pair 2 correct.

Pair 1 is incorrect because in 1791, Jonathan Duncan started a Sanskrit College at Varanasi[1], not William Jones. William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784[2], which was a different institution.

Pair 3 is also incorrect because Fort William College was set up by Wellesley in 1800[3], but his name was Lord Wellesley (Richard Wellesley), not Arthur Wellesley. Arthur Wellesley was his younger brother, who later became the Duke of Wellington and is famous for defeating Napoleon at Waterloo.

Therefore, only pair 2 correctly matches the institution with its founder.

Sources
  1. [1] Modern India ,Bipin Chandra, History class XII (NCERT 1982 ed.)[Old NCERT] > Chapter 6: Administrative Organisation and Social and Cultural Policy > Spread of Modern Education > p. 119
  2. [2] https://nios.ac.in/media/documents/secsocscicour/english/lesson-05.pdf
  3. [3] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 30: Development of Education > Under Company Rule > p. 563
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Q. With reference to educational institutions during colonial rule in India, consider the following pairs : Institution Founder 1. Sanskri…
At a glance
Origin: Books + Current Affairs Fairness: Low / Borderline fairness Books / CA: 3.3/10 · 6.7/10
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This is a 'Precision Trap' question. The facts are standard (Spectrum/NCERT), but the options rely on name confusion (Arthur vs. Richard Wellesley) and role confusion (Jones the Scholar vs. Duncan the Resident). If you read superficially, you walked into the trap.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Was the Sanskrit College at Benaras (Varanasi) founded by William Jones during British colonial rule in India?
Origin: Web / Current Affairs Fairness: CA heavy Web-answerable

Web source
Presence: 5/5
"the Sanskrit College at Banaras founded by Jonathan Duncan (1794)"
Why this source?
  • Explicitly names the founder of the Sanskrit College at Banaras as Jonathan Duncan with a date (1794).
  • Directly contradicts the claim that William Jones founded the Sanskrit College.
Web source
Presence: 4/5
"Asiatic Society of Bengal founded by William Jones in 1784."
Why this source?
  • Attributes an institutional foundation to William Jones (Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784), showing his role was founding the Asiatic Society, not the Sanskrit College.
  • Helps distinguish William Jones's activities from those of the actual founder of the Sanskrit College.

Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 30: Development of Education > Under Company Rule > p. 563
Strength: 5/5
“For the first 60 years of its dominion in India, the East India Company, a trading and profit-making concern, took no interest in the promotion of education. Some minor exceptions were efforts by individuals— ● The Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 for the study of Muslim law and related subjects. ● The Sanskrit College was established by Jonathan Duncan, the resident, at Benaras in 1791 for study of Hindu law and philosophy. ● Fort William College was set up by Wellesley in 1800 for training of civil servants of the Company in languages and customs of Indians (closed in 1802).”
Why relevant

Explicitly names the founder as Jonathan Duncan (resident at Benaras) and gives the founding year 1791 for the Sanskrit College.

How to extend

A student could check biographical timelines (Duncan vs Jones) and the college's founding records to see which individual's activities coincide with 1791.

Modern India ,Bipin Chandra, History class XII (NCERT 1982 ed.)[Old NCERT] > Chapter 6: Administrative Organisation and Social and Cultural Policy > Spread of Modern Education > p. 119
Strength: 5/5
“Ă The British were more successful in helping to revolutionise the intellectual life of India through the introduction of modern education. Of course, the spread of modern education was not solely the work of the Government: the Christian missionaries and a large number of enlightened Indians also played an important part. For the first 60 years of its dominion in India, the East India Company—a trading, profit-making concern—took little interest in the education of its subjects. There were, however, two very minor exceptions to this policy. In 1781, Warren Hastings set up the Calcutta Madrasah for the study and teaching of Muslim law and related subjects; and, in 1791, Jonathan Duncan started a Sanskrit College at Varanasi, where he was the Resident, for the study of Hindu Law and Philosophy.”
Why relevant

Also states Jonathan Duncan started a Sanskrit College at Varanasi in 1791, repeating the same founder and date as a pattern across sources.

How to extend

Compare multiple independent histories for consistency about the founder and date to weigh against the claim about William Jones.

History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 17: Effects of British Rule > Education > p. 269
Strength: 4/5
“The establishment of a Madrasa by a learned maulvi with the support of Warren Hastings was the beginning of initiatives of British government to promote education. This Madrasa started with forty stipendiary students. What Warren Hastings had done for the Muslims, his successor was prepared to do for the Hindus. Cornwallis established a Sanskrit college (1791) in Benares. The successive governors in the next twenty years, however, did nothing to follow it up.”
Why relevant

Attributes establishment of a Sanskrit college in Benares to Cornwallis (presented as 'his successor') in 1791, showing there are multiple attributions to British officials other than William Jones.

How to extend

A student could map which British officials were active in Benares in 1791 and cross-check which of them had authority to found such an institution.

History , class XII (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 1: Rise of Nationalism in India > e) Invoking India's glorious Past > p. 7
Strength: 4/5
“(e) Invoking India's glorious Past Orientalists like William Jones, Charles Wilkins and Max Muller explored and translated religious, historical and literary texts from Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic into English and made them available to all. Influenced by the richness of Indian traditions and scholarship, many of the early nationalists made a fervent plea to revive the pristine glory of India.”
Why relevant

Describes William Jones as an Orientalist who explored and translated classical texts, without mentioning institutional founding, suggesting his role was scholarly rather than administrative/foundational.

How to extend

Use Jones's known biography (scholar/Orientalist) to assess whether founding a Sanskrit college fits his documented activities.

Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 9: A General Survey of Socio-Cultural Reform Movements > Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar > p. 213
Strength: 3/5
“The great scholar and reformer, Vidyasagar's ideas were a happy blend of Indian and Western thought. He believed in high moral values, was a deep humanist and was generous to the poor. In 1850, he became the principal of Sanskrit College. He was determined to break the priestly monopoly of scriptural knowledge, and for this he opened the Sanskrit College to non-brahmins. He introduced Western thought in Sanskrit College to break the self-imposed isolation of Sanskritic learning. As an academician, he evolved a new methodology to teach Sanskrit. He also devised a new Bengali primer and evolved a new prose style.”
Why relevant

Shows the Sanskrit College was an established institution by 1850 (Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar became its principal), implying the college predated mid-19th-century figures and any claim about its founder should match earlier records.

How to extend

Confirm the college's institutional continuity and earlier founding claims by checking who held authority to found it before 1850.

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