Question 84 from UPSC CSE 2017 - Art and
Culture

Question

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?

IASCODEX · Accepted Answer

Correct Option: B. 2 only

Strategy: Identify the correct religious associations for the mentioned sects. Recognize that Sautrantika and Sammitiya are Buddhist schools, which invalidates Statement 1. Then, confirm the Sarvastivada doctrine that all dharmas exist across past, present, and future, which validates Statement 2. This process confirms option B as the correct answer.

Key Info: **Sautrantika** and **Sammitiya** were early schools of Buddhist philosophy, not Jainism. Sautrantika is known for emphasizing the authority of the sutras over the Abhidharma and is considered a reformist school within early Buddhism. Sammitiya was also a Buddhist sect and one of the four major early Buddhist schools in India. Jainism, in contrast, developed prominent sects like **Digambara** and **Svetambara**.

**Sarvastivadin** is a major school of Buddhism within the Abhidharma tradition. Their core doctrine, 'Sarva-asti-vada' ('the theory that all exists'), holds that dharmas (phenomenal constituents) of past, present, and future all exist—countering the orthodox Buddhist view of transience or momentariness (kshanikavada). According to the Sarvastivadins, dharmas exist always, though sometimes in latent, unmanifested form. This is a marked departure from Sautrantika, who emphasized the momentariness of all phenomena.

Early Buddhist schools, including Sautrantika and Sarvastivadin, engaged in philosophical debates over the nature of reality and time. Jainism, on the other hand, focused on different philosophical frameworks, such as **anekantavada** (non-absolutism) and **syadvada** (theory of conditioned predication), and never had sects named Sautrantika or Sammitiya.

IASCODEX · Answer

Option A: 1 only

IASCODEX · Answer

Option C: Both 1 and 2

IASCODEX · Answer

Option D: Neither 1 nor 2