History Quiz: Buddhism & Jainism |1 May, 2021

Important Buddhist writers and their works.

• Asvaghosha: Author of the Buddhacharita in Sanskrit. Contemporary of Kanishka. He was a poet, dramatist, musician, scholar, and debater.
• Asanga and Vasubandhu: Two brothers who flourished in the Punjab region in the fourth century CE. Asanga was the most important teacher of Yogachara or Vijnanavada school founded by his guru, Maitreyanatha. Vasubandhus greatest work, Abhidharmakosa, is still considered an important encyclopaedia of Buddhism.

• Buddhaghosa: He lived in the fifth century and was a great Pali scholar. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddhas path to liberation.
• Nagarjuna: He is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism. He was a friend and contemporary of Satvahana King Gautamiputra of Andhra.

Source: Poonam Dahiaya

Patanjali, the notable grammarian who wrote the Mahabhasya was a contemporary of Pushyamitra Sunga.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

The most important feature of the Sangam economy was flourishing trade with the Roman world.

• The best account of Indo-Roman trade is given in the book called the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, which was written in the first century CE by an anonymous author.
• Major items of export to the Romans were the Indian products such as spices (included yavanapriya or pepper), perfumes, jewels, ivory and fine textiles (muslin especially), several precious and semi-precious stones like diamond, carnelian, turquoise, agate, sapphire, and so on, besides pearls, indigo, sandalwood, iron and steel cutlery.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

According to Puranic, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, there were sixteen mahajanapadas.

• The proto-states of the Gangetic region were known as janapadas and comprised chiefdoms, republics and small kingdoms.
• There were also ganasanghas or oligarchies, which were centred on clans. The Vrijjis were one of the best known of the gana-sanghas, and Vaishali was their capital in the Mithila region.
• The mahajanapadas on the Gangetic plains were all monarchies. Vedic orthodoxy was an established practice in these kingdoms.

Source: Old NCERT 

In course of time, Sthaviravadins, Mahasanghikas and Sarvastivadins emerged as major sects of Buddhism.

• New ideas emerged among the Sarvastivadins and Mahasanghikas. It led to the emergence of Mahayana and Hinayana (the Great and Lesser Vehicles) in Buddhism.
• Mahayana or the Great Vehicle became popular and influential in India. Nalanda University was an important centre of Buddhist learning and was patronised by the Palas. Mahayana spread to China and Japan.
• Hinayana or the Lesser Vehicle became popular in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other South-east Asian countries.

• By the end of the Gupta period, Vajrayana or the Vehicle of the Thunderbolt emerged. It was popular in Bengal and Bihar.
• It was influenced by primitive local cults and spread to Tibet in the 11th century CE. The Vikramasila University in Bihar was an important centre of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today handed over a proposal seeking to declare the Theravada Tripitaka, the sacred ure of Buddhists, as a UNESCO World Heritage.

• The proposal was officially handed over during a national ceremony held in Kandy to the UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer.
• The Theravada Tripitaka was declared a National heritage of Sri Lanka by President in January 2019.
• Buddha’s teachings were initially propagated through word of mouth for generations till the Tripitaka was finally written down in Sri Lanka about 100 years BC.
• The teachings are contained in three volumes titled ‘Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma’.
• They were first compiled and written on palm leaves with more than 1000 monks involved in the task in Aluvihare near Matale.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

The Digha Nikaya is the compilation of the long discourses of Buddha. The book is translated in English as part of Max Mueller’s 50-volume Sacred Books of the East.

Muller himself studied Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, French, German and English, and of course Latin and ancient Greek.

Source: Old NCERT

Buddhism faced divisions from time to time. Division into various splinter groups like ‘Hinayana’, ‘Mahayana’, ‘Vajrayana’, ‘Tantrayana’ and ‘Sahajayana’ led Buddhism to lose its originality.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

Takshashila or Taxila is situated in present day Pakistan.

• Between the fifth century and fourth century BCE, it was part of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia.
• Because of its strategic location on the trade route between the East and the West, it emerged as an important centre of learning and culture.
• Students came from far and wide to Taxila in search of knowledge.
• The city was brought to light by the excavation carried out in the 1940s by Sir John Marshall.

• Taxila is considered “one of the greatest intellectual achievements of any ancient civilization”.
• Panini seems to have compiled his well-known work, Ashtadhyayi, here.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

Sixth century BCE was a period of intense intellectual ferment. There are several reasons for the emergence of this ferment.

• State formation and the rigidity of the Vedic religion constrained the liberty of thought and action.

• A revolt against religious practice of following dogmas found its articulation in heterodox sects.
• The emergence of territorial identities accelerated the process of sociopolitical and economic changes.
• The elite class, disillusioned with the system in place, began to move in protest towards the heterodox religions blossoming in Magadha or middle Ganges plains.
• As the Vedic religion was not fully organized, its reach did not permeate into the society and hence people did not find it difficult to follow the newly emerging religious sects.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.