Literature, philosophy & religion

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

Parishishtaparvan and the Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana are Jaina works. Avadanashataka (a collection of avadanas) is Buddhist. UPSC's key gives only 2 and 4 as Jaina.

• ✗ 1. UPSC's official key treats this statement as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 2. Parishishtaparvan is a Jaina work: IGNOU's study material lists it among the Jain scriptures known as the Parvas.
• ✗ 3. Avadanashataka means 'a hundred avadanas'. Avadanas are Buddhist stories, centred on the Buddha's explanations of a person's worthy deeds in a previous life, so this is a Buddhist work.
• ✓ 4. The Mahapurana is a Jaina work; NCERT names it among the manuscript works portraying Jain subjects.

Remember · Jaina: Parishishtaparvan and the Mahapurana. Buddhist: Avadanashataka (a collection of avadanas).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

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.

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct: a female slave who bore her master a son was legally free, and the child took the legal status of the master's son. UPSC's key does not count statement 1: Kautilya lays down that an Arya cannot be reduced to slavery, lists slaves as those born in the house, inherited, bought, pledged, self-sold or captured in war, and treats a man sentenced to a fine as one who works the fine off, not as a slave.

• ✗ 1. The Arthashastra (Book III, ch. 13) says 'never shall an Arya be subjected to slavery'; a man pledged to raise money for a fine or decree must be redeemed, and one sentenced to a fine works it off (3.13.18). Judicial punishment is not among the text's own categories of slaves: born in the house, inherited, bought, pledged, self-sold, captured in war.
• ✓ 2. If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free.
• ✓ 3. Such a child was entitled to the legal status of the master's son.

Remember · Arthashastra on slaves (dasa): no slavery for an Arya; a slave-mother who bore her master a son became free, and her son took the legal status of the master's son.

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Akbar

UPSC's key is Akbar (1556-1605). Akbar ran a translation bureau at Fatehpur Sikri that turned major Sanskrit works into Persian; we could not confirm the date of the Yogavasistha translation from an official source.

• ✓ (a) Akbar had Sanskrit classics rendered into Persian, including the Mahabharata (Razmnama) and the Ramayana. UPSC's official key gives Akbar for this question; we could not confirm the date of the Yogavasistha translation from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) Humayun's rule was short and unsettled (he lost the throne and regained it), and it is not associated with a Sanskrit-to-Persian translation programme.
• ✗ (c) Shah Jahan is remembered for architecture such as the Taj Mahal; the large state-backed translation bureau is an Akbar-era feature.

Remember · Akbar's translation bureau put Sanskrit works into Persian: Mahabharata as Razmnama, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita and Panchatantra.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The best means of salvation was devotion.

Ramanuja taught that devotion (bhakti) to Vishnu, with surrender to Him, is the best way to reach salvation. His school, vishishtadvaita, is a devotional form of Vedanta.

• ✓ (a) NCERT: according to Ramanuja the best means of attaining salvation was intense devotion to Vishnu, whose grace lets the devotee reach the bliss of union with Him.
• ✗ (c) The route of knowledge and reasoning about Brahman is Shankara's advaita, which Ramanuja challenged; his own path stressed bhakti and surrender.
• ✗ (d) Ramanuja's texts as summarised in NCERT stress bhakti and surrender to the divine, not meditation, as the path to liberation.

Remember · Ramanuja (11th century, Tamil Nadu): vishishtadvaita, Vishnu-bhakti and surrender as the way to salvation, in contrast to Shankara's advaita and path of knowledge.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error