Prelims 2019 · Q13
MediumConsider the following statements:
- 1.Saint Nimbarka was a contemporary of Akbar.
- 2.Saint Kabir was greatly influenced by Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Both statements get the chronology wrong. Nimbarka is placed in the 12th century (some scholars date him as late as the 14th), long before Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Kabir (c. 14th–15th centuries) died long before the Naqshbandi Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) was active, so Sirhindi could not have influenced him.
- ✗ 1. Nimbarka, the Vaishnava teacher devoted to Krishna and Radha, is placed in the 12th century after Ramanuja, or by some scholars around the 14th century; either way he lived at least two centuries before Akbar's reign (1556–1605).
- ✗ 2. Kabir belongs to the 14th–15th centuries; Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi was a 17th-century Naqshbandi sufi whose orthodox views are usually contrasted with Akbar's.
Remember · Chronology: Nimbarka (12th c., some say 14th) → Kabir (14th–15th c.) → Akbar (1556–1605) → Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (Naqshbandi, d. 1624).
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part II, Chapter 2 “Kabir (c. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries) is perhaps one of the most outstanding examples of a poet-saint who emerged within this context.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part II, Chapter 2 “the noted seventeenth-century Naqshbandi Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (d.1624), whose ideology is often contrasted with the liberal and non-sectarian views of Akbar”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part II, Chapter 4 “1555-56 Humayun regains lost territories 1556-1605 Reign of Akbar 1605-27 Reign of Jahangir”
- IGNOU eGyanKosh (Govt of India central university), Indian Religion and Philosophy, Unit 10: Saivism and Vaisnavism ↗ · reference work “In the twelth century, after Ramanuja came Nimbarka. He was likely to have preceded Madhva.”
- IGNOU eGyanKosh, Unit 3: Prominent Theistic Philosophers of India (dating of Nimbarka) ↗ · reference work “Though there is a controversy about his time, S. N. Dasgupta dated Nimbarka to around middle of 14th Century. On the other hand Dr. S. A. Rizvi assigns the date of 1130-1200.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·