With reference to the cultural history of India, which one of the following is the correct description of the term 'paramitas'?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Perfections whose attainment led to the Bodhisattva path
Paramitas are the perfections, or transcendental virtues, that Mahayana Buddhism says a bodhisattva (a Buddha-to-be) practises on the path to enlightenment. 'Paramita' means 'perfection', as in Prajnaparamita, the 'Perfection of Wisdom'.
- ✗ (a) The earliest Dharmashastra texts in sutra style are the Dharmasutras, which NCERT says were compiled from about 500 BCE; they have nothing to do with the word paramita.
- ✗ (b) Schools that reject the authority of the Vedas are called nastika schools (NCERT lists the Carvaka, Bauddha and Jaina among them); paramita is a Buddhist ethical-spiritual term, not a school.
- ✓ (c) The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) is one such perfection, and Mahayana treats these perfections as the practice of bodhisattvas, who are compassionate beings working to help others.
- ✗ (d) Merchant guilds of early medieval South India are a different subject altogether; paramitas are Buddhist virtues, not guilds.
Remember · Paramita = perfection. In Mahayana Buddhism the paramitas (generosity, morality, patience, effort, meditation, wisdom, etc.) are the virtues perfected along the bodhisattva path.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Chapter 1 “A fine example of a Pala Buddhist palm leaf manuscript is Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Bodleian Library, Oxford) or the ‘Perfection of Wisdom’ written in eight thousand lines.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 4 “Bodhisattas were perceived as deeply compassionate beings who accumulated merit through their efforts but used this not to attain nibbana and thereby abandon the world, but to help others.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 3 “From c. 500 BCE, these norms were compiled in Sanskrit texts known as the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras.”
- NCERT Class 11 · Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Chapter 2 “Carvaka, Bauddha and Jaina are considered Nastika schools as they don't take the Vedas as valid source of knowledge.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'paramita' (Buddhism) ↗ · reference work “pāramitā, in Mahāyāna (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, any of the perfections, or transcendental virtues, practiced by bodhisattvas (“Buddhas-to-be”) in advanced stages of their path toward enlightenment.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·