UPSC Prelims 2020 – Question 71

Here is Question No. 71 a part of our series on UPSC Prelims 2020

Q71. With reference to the cultural history of India, consider the following pairs:

1. Parivrajaka : Renunciant and Wanderer
2. Shramana: Priest with a high status
3. Upasaka: Lay follower of Buddhism

Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: B

• Pair 1 is correctly matched: The word Parivrajaka means “roaming ascetic” or a wandering religious mendicant. Thus, Parivrajaka can be represented as a Renunciant and Wanderer. Although this term occurs in the early Brahmanic tradition of the Upanishads, it is also applicable to Buddhist and Jain monks, as well as to Hindu sannyasins. The Pāli equivalent is paribbajaka.
• Pair 2 is not correctly matched: Shramana in Sanskrit means “the one who strives” i.e. to realize the truth. Shramanas practiced an ascetic, or strict and self-denying, lifestyle in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They were commonly known as monks.
• Pair 3 is correctly matched: Upasaka is the Sanskrit and Pali word for “attendant”. This is the title of followers of Buddhism (or, historically, of Gautama Buddha) who are not monks, nuns, or novice monastics in a Buddhist order, and who undertake certain vows

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