प्राचीन भारत के संदर्भ में, गौतम बुद्ध को सामान्यतः निम्नलिखित में से किन उपनामों से जाना जाता था ? 1. नायपुत्त 2. शाक्यमुनि 3. तथागत नीचे दिए गए कूट का प्रयोग कर सही उत्तर चुनिए :

(d) उपर्युक्त में से कोई भी गौतम बुद्ध के उपनाम नहीं हैं

प्रश्न यूपीएससी के हिंदी प्रश्नपत्र से · व्याख्या अभी अंग्रेज़ी में

Prelims · Ancient India · 20 questions

Buddhism, Jainism & other schools

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

Asked in 9 of 11 years · most in 2023 (3)

Practising Ancient India? Take it as timed sets of 25 →

UPSC syllabus: “History of India and Indian National Movement.” Sub-topics in the detailed syllabus →

Prelims 2024 · Q54

Medium

प्राचीन भारत के संदर्भ में, गौतम बुद्ध को सामान्यतः निम्नलिखित में से किन उपनामों से जाना जाता था ?

1.नायपुत्त
2.शाक्यमुनि
3.तथागत

नीचे दिए गए कूट का प्रयोग कर सही उत्तर चुनिए :

Read this question in English

With reference to ancient India, Gautama Buddha was generally known by which of the following epithets?

1. Nayaputta

2. Shakyamuni

3. Tathagata

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only · (b) 2 and 3 only · (c) 1, 2 and 3 · (d) None of the above are epithets of Gautama Buddha

उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English

Answer: (b) केवल 2 और 3

Shakyamuni ('sage of the Shakya clan') and Tathagata are both titles of the Buddha, but Nayaputta is not: it is the name by which the early Jain texts refer to Mahavira (the Pali Nataputta). So only 2 and 3 are correct.

✗ 1. Nayaputta is the epithet found in the earliest Jain texts for Mahavira, the Pali form being Nataputta; Buddhist texts call him Nigantha Nataputta. It is not a title of the Buddha.
✓ 2. The Buddha was born in the Sakya (Shakya) clan. Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription calls him the Buddha Shakyamuni.
✓ 3. NCERT quotes the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, where Ananda speaks of 'the remains of the Tathagata (another name for the Buddha)'.

Remember · Buddha = Shakyamuni, Tathagata. Mahavira = Nayaputta (Pali Nataputta).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Sources

NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 4 “with the remains of the Tathagata (another name for the Buddha)?”
PIB (Ministry of Tourism): In the Footsteps of the Buddha webinar ↗ “commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him the Buddha Shakyamuni”
Journal for the Study of Religion 28(1), 2015: Will the real Nigantha Nataputta please stand up? (peer-reviewed, via SciELO South Africa) ↗ · reference work “The epithet that does appear in the earliest stratum of Jain texts is ‘Nāyaputta’, analogous to the Pāli ‘Nātaputta’. … Mahāvīra, known in the Pāli literature as Nigantha Nātaputta”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2024 · Q64

Hard

संघभूति, एक भारतीय बौद्ध भिक्षु, जिन्होंने चौथी शताब्दी ईसवी के अंत में चीन की यात्रा की, निम्नलिखित में से किस पर भाष्य के लेखक थे ?

Read this question in English

Sanghabhuti, an Indian Buddhist monk, who travelled to China at the end of the fourth century AD, was the author of a commentary on:

(a) Prajnaparamita Sutra · (b) Visuddhimagga · (c) Sarvastivada Vinaya · (d) Lalitavistara

उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English

Answer: (c) सर्वास्तिवाद विनय

Sanghabhuti, a monk from Kabul, worked in China in the late 4th century (AD 381–85). The other titles belong to different traditions and periods.

✓ (c) UPSC's official key treats this option as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here. A Vinaya is the rulebook for those who join the sangha. The Sarvastivada Vinaya was itself translated into Chinese in AD 404 by Punyatara with Kumarajiva, about two decades after Sanghabhuti's years in China.
✗ (b) Visuddhimagga is Buddhaghosa's exposition of Theravada teaching, written in Sri Lanka in the 5th century, a Pali work of a later date and a different school.
✗ (d) Lalitavistara is a legendary biography of the Buddha, not a commentary on monastic rules.

Remember · Sanghabhuti: monk from Kabul, in China AD 381–85. Visuddhimagga is Buddhaghosa's; Lalitavistara a Buddha biography.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Sources

IGNCA, India and China: Beyond and the Within (Lokesh Chandra) ↗ “Sanghabhuti from Kabul translated three works in AD 381-85. In AD 404 Punyatara of Kabul translated the Sarvastivada-vinaya, together with Kumarajiva.”
NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 4 “The Vinaya Pitaka included rules and regulations for those who joined the sangha or monastic order”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Visuddhimagga ↗ · reference work “It was written during the reign of the Sri Lankan king Mahanama in the 5th century ce by the great Buddhist commentator Buddhaghosa.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Lalitavistara ↗ · reference work “legendary life of the Gautama Buddha, written in a combination of Sanskrit and a vernacular”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

The Syllabus X-Ray of this topic

1 of its 5 sub-topics is Core

1 Core · 2 High · 2 Steady · 0 Rare

Core #48Buddhist sects, councils & texts · 6 questions
HighJainism: doctrines, sects & texts · 4 questions
HighBuddhist centres, monks & spread abroad · 3 questions

The X-Ray ranks all 928 sub-topics of the UPSC syllabus by what UPSC has asked since 2016. The 60 Prelims Core sub-topics are behind 51% of Prelims questions.

See the whole X-Ray →

The same topic in Mains

Indian art, literature & architectureGS 1 syllabus

Read it in NCERT

Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 4cited in 2 explanations