The first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, a music training school, was set up in 1901 by Vishnu Digambar Paluskar in
- (a) Delhi
- (b) Gwalior
- (c) Ujjain
- (d) Lahore ✓ UPSC's answer
Why the answer is (d)
• Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, a Gwalior-gharana vocalist, founded the first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore on 5 May 1901 to take classical music out of the courts and into public education.
• It was the first school in India to teach Hindustani music on a systematic, institutional basis to ordinary students, with fees and a curriculum, breaking the guru-shishya monopoly.
• Paluskar later opened a branch in Bombay (1908), and the institution's successors, including the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, still run music examinations across India.
• Delhi, Gwalior and Ujjain are distractors; Gwalior was Paluskar's musical lineage, not the school's site.
• Hence option (d).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) Delhi
- The first school was not in Delhi.
- (b) Gwalior
- Gwalior is Paluskar's gharana, not where the school was founded.
- (c) Ujjain
- Ujjain has no connection with the first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2025, held on 25 May 2025. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.