Which among the following events happened earliest ?

Which among the following events happened earliest ?

Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj.
Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath.
Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination.
This question was previously asked in
UPSC IAS – 2018
The correct answer is B) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan.
To determine the earliest event, we need to know the approximate dates of each event:
A) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj in 1875.
B) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan between 1858 and 1859 (it was published in 1860).
C) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath in 1882.
D) Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination in 1863.
Comparing the dates, the writing of Neeldarpan occurred earliest.
Neeldarpan (The Mirror of Indigo) is a Bengali play that depicted the plight of indigo farmers under British planters. It caused significant controversy and highlighted the brutal treatment of the farmers, contributing to the Indigo Revolt (1859). The Arya Samaj was a Hindu reform movement promoting Vedic values. Satyendranath Tagore’s achievement in the ICS broke barriers and was a significant milestone for Indians in the colonial administration. Anandmath is a Bengali novel set in the context of the Sannyasi Rebellion and contains the song ‘Vande Mataram’.