Static Quiz 02 March 2022 (History)

Solution: (b)

Justification: Vedic ritual is preserved in literary texts called the Brahmanas. The main division of the contexts of these extensive texts is twofold – the ritualistic injunction and discussions on the meaning of Vedic ritual and all that is related to it. The Aranyakas or the treatises of the forest present secret explanations of the ritual, have their origin in the philosophical discussions of the Brahmanas, find their culmination in the Upanishads and represent the transitional phase between the ritualistic symbolism of the Brahmanas and the philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. The Upanishads, written both in prose and poetry, are expressions of philosophical concepts.

Solution: (b)

Learning: The main Puranas are 18 encyclopedic collections of legend and myth. Though the archaic form of the genre might have existed as early as the fourth or the fifty century B.C., the famous names of the 18 Mahapuranas were not discovered earlier than the third century A.D. The phenomenal popularity of these Mahapuranas gave rise to yet another sub-genre known as the Upapuranas or
minor Puranas. They are also 19 in number.

The Mahapuranas have five subjects.
These are :
(1) Sarga, the original creation of the universe,
(2) Pratisarga, the periodical process of destruction and re-creation,
(3) Manvantara, the different eras or cosmic cycles,
(4) Surya Vamsha and Chandra Vamsa, the histories of the solar and lunar dynasties of Gods and sages, (5) Vamshanucharita, the
genealogies of kings.

Around this core skeleton of the five subjects, any Purana adds other diverse materials like matters of religious concern, customs, ceremonies, sacrifices, festivals, the duties of various castes, different types of donations, details of the construction of temples and images, and descriptions of places of pilgrimage.

Solution: (d)

Learning: The Madhyamaka school of Buddhism, the followers of which are called Mādhyamikas, was one of the two principal schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India, the other school being the Yogācāra. The name of the school is a reference to the claim made of Buddhism in general that it is a middle path (madhyamā pratipad) that avoids the two extremes of eternalism—the doctrine that all things exist because of an eternal essence— and annihilationism—the doctrine that things have essences while they exist but that these essences are annihilated just when the things themselves go out of existence.

The fundamental doctrine of the Yogacara school is “that all phenomenal existence is fabricated by consciousness.” Consciousness is the basis of all activities from birth to attaining enlightenment; “…all is based upon the coming into being and the ceasing to be of consciousness, i.e., of distinctions in the mind.”

Solution: (a)

Justification: Grihya-sutra, in Hinduism, is a manual detailing the domestic (grihya) religious ceremonies performed by both male and female householders over the fire. The Grihya-Sutras, together with the Shrauta-sutras (which deal with the grand Vedic sacrifices) and the
Dharma-sutras(which deal with rules of conduct) make up the Kalpa-sutras—collections of texts that emerged within the different Vedic schools.
The Grihya-sutras describe the ceremonies (samskaras) that mark each stage of an individual’s life, from
the moment of conception to the final death rites; the five daily sacrifices (mahayajna); seasonal
ceremonies; and those observed on special occasions, such as house building or cattle
breeding.

Solution: (d)

Justification:
Statement 1: One could attain the grace of God irrespective of one’s caste status.
Statement 2: Around the time when the puranas first began to be composed, the belief in particular deities had be come established
as one of the principal marks of the Hindu faith, and to some degree the puranas can be described as a form of sectarian
literature.
Some Puranas exhibit devotion to Shiva; in others, the devotion to Vishnu predominates.

Learning: The special subject of the Puranas is the powers and works of the gods and one ancient Sanskrit lexicographer,
Amarasinha,writing inthefifthorsixthcenturyA.D., defined a purana as having five characteristic topics, or pancalaksana:
(1) The creation of the universe;
(2) Its destruction and renovation;
(3)The genealogy of gods and patriarchs;
(4)The reigns of the Manus, forming the periods called Manwantaras;
(5) the history of the Solar and Lunar races of kings.”