Which of the following statements is incorrect with reference to “Chaitya”?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → They are early ‘stupas’ at Barabar
Option (1) It is a sacred place — Correct statement (not the answer). From early times people regarded certain places as sacred: sites with special trees, unique rocks or great natural beauty. Such sites were sometimes called chaityas, and Buddhist literature mentions several of them.
Option (2) It may have been derived from the word ‘chita’ — Correct statement (not the answer). Chita means a funeral pyre, and by extension a funerary mound.
Option (3) It has small shrines attached to them — Correct statement (not the answer). The sacred sites with small shrines attached to them were the ones described as chaityas.
Option (4) They are early ‘stupas’ at Barabar — Incorrect statement (the answer). Barabar in Bihar is known for its rock-cut caves, not for stupas. The picture of the entrance to a cave at Barabar belongs to about the third century BCE, when such caves were made on the orders of Asoka for renouncers of the Ajivika sect.
NCERT (2025-26): “7. Stupas … From earliest times, people tended to regard certain places as sacred. These included sites with special trees or unique rocks, or sites of awe-inspiring natural beauty. These sites, with small shrines attached to them, were sometimes described as chaityas. Buddhist literature mentions several chaityas.… …Chaitya may also have been derived from the word chita, meaning a funeral pyre, and by extension a funerary mound. …Entrance to a cave at Barabar (Bihar), c. third century BCE”
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