Identify the correct statements in regards to the ‘Stupas’:
A. Relics of Buddha, such as his bodily remains or objects used by him, were buried there.
B. The tradition of erecting stupas, may have been pre-Buddhist, but they came to be associated with Buddhism.
C. Bimbisara distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town.
D. By the second-century BCE, a number of stupas, including those of Bharhut, Sanchi, and Sarnath, had been built.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A, B and D only
A stupa is a mound built over relics regarded as sacred. Because the relics inside were linked with the Buddha, the whole stupa came to be honoured as an emblem of both the Buddha and Buddhism.
A. Relics of Buddha, such as his bodily remains or objects used by him, were buried there. Correct. Stupas held relics of the Buddha, his bodily remains or objects he had used, which is why these mounds were treated as sacred.
B. The tradition of erecting stupas, may have been pre-Buddhist, but they came to be associated with Buddhism. Correct. Mounds of this kind may be older than Buddhism, but over time they became the best-known Buddhist monuments.
C. Bimbisara distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town. Incorrect. According to a Buddhist text called the Ashokavadana, it was Asoka who distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered stupas to be built over them. Only the king’s name was swapped, and that one name decides the statement. Check the names in a statement as carefully as the idea.
D. By the second-century BCE, a number of stupas, including those of Bharhut, Sanchi, and Sarnath, had been built. Correct. By the second century BCE stupas stood at Bharhut, Sanchi and Sarnath, among other places.
NCERT (2025-26): “7.1 Why were stupas built? … There were other places too that were regarded as sacred. This was because relics of the Buddha such as his bodily remains or objects used by him were buried there. These were mounds known as stupas. The tradition of erecting stupas may have been pre-Buddhist, but they came to be associated with Buddhism. Since they contained relics regarded as sacred, the entire stupa came to be venerated as an emblem of both the Buddha and Buddhism. According to a Buddhist text known as the Ashokavadana, Asoka distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered the construction of stupas over them. By the second century BCE a number of stupas, including those at Bharhut, Sanchi and Sarnath (Map 1), had been built.…” |