With reference to the religious history of India, consider the followi

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?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
This question was previously asked in
UPSC IAS – 2017
The correct answer is B) 2 only.
Sautrantika and Sammitiya were sects of Buddhism, not Jainism. Sarvastivadin was a school of Buddhist philosophy that held the belief that phenomena exist in all three periods of time (past, present, and future), though not in a wholly momentary fashion.
Statement 1 is incorrect. Sautrantika and Sammitiya are sub-schools within the Nikaya Buddhism (often referred to as Hinayana by Mahayana followers). Sautrantikas particularly emphasized the authority of the Sutra Pitaka over the Abhidharma. Sammitiyas were a sub-sect of the Vatsiputriya school known for their controversial doctrine of ‘pudgala’ (person). Statement 2 is correct. The Sarvastivadins (meaning “the doctrine that all exists”) were a prominent early Buddhist school whose central tenet was that the fundamental constituents of reality (dharmas) exist in all three times.
Exit mobile version