Which source describes the ‘plight of the subjects of a wicked king’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Gandatindu Jataka
The Jatakas are stories written in Pali around the middle of the first millennium CE. One of them, the Gandatindu Jataka, describes the plight of the subjects of a wicked king. When the king went among them in disguise, each one cursed him: robbers attacked them at night and tax collectors by day. In the end the people left their village and went to live in the forest.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.1 Popular perceptions of kings What did subjects think about their rulers? … One story known as the Gandatindu Jataka describes the plight of the subjects of a wicked king; these included elderly women and men, cultivators, herders, village boys and even animals. When the king went in disguise to find out what his subjects thought about him, each one of them cursed him for their miseries, complaining that they were attacked by robbers at night and by tax collectors during the day. To escape from this situation, people abandoned their village and went to live in the forest.…” |