Who established Banaras Sanskrit College?

Concept

To identify the founder of a historical educational institution, first place the institution in its period and administrative setting.

Banaras Sanskrit College belongs to the late eighteenth-century Orientalist phase of East India Company policy, when British officials supported instruction in classical Indian learning.

Application

Banaras Sanskrit College was established in 1791 on the initiative of Jonathan Duncan, the East India Company's Resident at Benares. Its purpose was to promote the study of Hindu law and Sanskrit learning.

Contrast

• Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya is associated with Banaras Hindu University, founded in the early twentieth century, not with the 1791 college.

• Bishop Middleton founded Bishop's College in Calcutta in 1820, a different institution.

• Surendranath Banerjee was a later nationalist and educator associated with Ripon College, not the eighteenth-century foundation.

Cross-check

The chronology confirms the identification: Duncan's Benares administration overlaps the 1791 foundation, while the other figures' relevant educational work belongs to later periods.

Result

Therefore, Banaras Sanskrit College was established by Jonathan Duncan.