Correct answer: (c) Jyotiba Phule
Explanation
- A
Tarabai Shinde
Tarabai Shinde claimed to be the founder of Satyashodhak Samaj. This option is incorrect because she was a prominent feminist activist associated with the Satya Shodhak Samaj through her writings like Stripurna Tulana, but she did not found the institution.
- B
M G. Ranade
M. G. Ranade claimed to be the founder of Satyashodhak Samaj. This option is incorrect because Ranade was a social reformer and founder of the Prarthana Samaj, not the Satyashodhak Samaj, though both shared reformist goals in western India.
- C
Jyotiba Phule
Jyotiba Phule claimed to be the founder of Satyashodhak Samaj in September 1873. This option is correct because Jyotiba Phule established the society in Pune, Maharashtra, with the primary emphasis on seeking truth, liberating lower castes, and uplifting oppressed sections of society from social exploitation.
- D
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy claimed to be the founder of Satyashodhak Samaj. This option is incorrect because Roy was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj in Bengal decades earlier in 1828 and had no direct organizational link to Phule's Maharashtrian movement.
Summary. Official key is (c) Jyotiba Phule. The question asks for the founder of the Satyashodhak Samaj, which emphasized social equality and the seeking of truth. While figures like Ranade and Roy founded other prominent nineteenth-century reform movements, only Jyotiba Phule established this specific society in 1873. Tarabai Shinde contributed to its ideology but did not create it. Therefore, option (c) is the correct and historically accurate answer.