With reference to Indian history, consider the following pairs:
| Historical person | Known as | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Aryadeva | Jaina scholar |
| 2. | Dignaga | Buddhist scholar |
| 3. | Nathamuni | Vaishnava scholar |
How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Only two pairs
Two pairs are correct: Dignaga was a Buddhist logician and Nathamuni a Vaishnava (Shrivaishnava) teacher. Aryadeva was a Buddhist, a disciple of Nagarjuna, not a Jaina.
- ✗ 1. Aryadeva was a Mahayana Buddhist philosopher, the disciple of Nagarjuna, who with him is credited with founding the Madhyamaka school; he was not a Jaina.
- ✓ 2. Dignaga (c. 480-540 CE) was a Buddhist logician whose Pramanasamuccaya laid the foundations of Buddhist logic.
- ✓ 3. Nathamuni (10th century), the first acharya of the Shrivaishnava sect, gathered the hymns of the Alvars and had them sung in Vaishnava temples.
Remember · Aryadeva: Buddhist (Madhyamaka, Nagarjuna's disciple). Dignaga: Buddhist logic. Nathamuni: Shrivaishnava, collected the Alvars' hymns.
Sources
- India Science Heritage (Government of India): Nagarjuna ↗ “Along with his disciple Aryadeva, he is credited with founding the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Dignaga ↗ · reference work “Dignāga (born c. 480 ce —died c. 540) was a Buddhist logician and author of the Pramāṇasamuccaya (“Compendium of the Means of True Knowledge”), a work that laid the foundations of Buddhist logic.”
- Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh: Dialectical System ↗ · reference work “introduced Buddhist Logics or Dialectical System for analytical study of Buddhism in his book named”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Alvar ↗ · reference work “The hymns of the Alvars were gathered in the 10th century by Nathamuni, a leader of the Shrivaishnava sect, who introduced the regular singing of the hymns in Vaishnava temples of South India.”
- IGNOU (eGyankosh), Unit 22: Socio-Religious Movements ↗ · reference work “Nathamuni introduced the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, i.e. the hymns of the Alvars as a part of the ritual singing in the temples.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·