UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 3 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Buddhist Sects Sarvastivada
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2017
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicBuddhism and Jainism
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
With reference to the religious history of India, consider the following statements:
1. Sautrantika and Sammitiya were the sects of Jainism.
2. Sarvastivadin held that the constituents of phenomena were not wholly momentary, but existed forever in a latent form.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: B. 2 only
Verdict
The answer is 2 only. The Sarvastivadin doctrine is correctly described, but Sautrantika and Sammitiya were Buddhist rather than Jaina sects.
Analysis
Statement 1 is INCORRECT. Sautrantika and Sammitiya were schools of Buddhism, the former taking the sutras alone as authoritative and the latter belonging to the personalist tradition. Statement 2 is CORRECT. The Sarvastivadins, whose name means those who say all exists, held that the constituents of phenomena, the dharmas, were not wholly momentary but existed perpetually in a latent form, which is precisely the doctrine that distinguished them within Buddhist philosophy.
Source
A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, page 272.
How to crack it
The name is the doctrine here, since Sarvastivada literally means all exists, and statement 2 simply restates that in longer words, so the statement confirms itself once the term is decoded. For statement 1, note that Jaina sectarian names run to Digambara and Shvetambara, while the vada and vadin endings belong overwhelmingly to Buddhist philosophical schools. Recognising the naming conventions of each tradition separates them without knowing the doctrines.