A biography of a saint or a religious leader is known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Hagiography
Option (1) Chronicle — Incorrect. A chronicle is a record of events, usually of a reign, set down in the order in which they happened. It is about events, not the life of a saint.
Option (2) Autobiography — Incorrect. An autobiography is the story of a person’s life written by that person. A hagiography is written by others, often followers, long after the saint’s time.
Option (3) Memoir — Incorrect. A memoir is a writer’s account of events and people from his or her own memory. It is not the special name for the life of a saint.
Option (4) Hagiography — Correct. Hagiography is a biography of a saint or religious leader. Hagiographies often praise the saint’s achievements and may not always be literally accurate, but they tell us about the beliefs of the followers of that tradition. Historians have tried to reconstruct details of the Buddha’s life from such hagiographies.
NCERT (2026-27): “4. The Buddha and the Quest for Enlightenment … Historians have also tried to reconstruct details of his life from hagiographies. Many of these were written down at least a century after the time of the Buddha, in an attempt to preserve memories of the great teacher.… Hagiography is a biography of a saint or religious leader. Hagiographies often praise the saint’s achievements, and may not always be literally accurate. They are important because they tell us about the beliefs of the followers of that particular tradition.” |