Section III Jainism

Ancient History: Question Bank Three

Chapter VII
Religion in Ancient IndiaReference: Continued from the previous Post:
Section III Jainism

Who was the contemporary of Vardhamana?
By what name was Vardhamana known among his followers?
What is the etymological meaning of Jain?
Who established Jainsim?
What is peculiar about the history of Jainsim in comparison to that of Buddhism?
What is the peculiarity of the history of the Jain doctrine in comparison to that of Buddhism?
Did Jainism spread over to the other countries like Buddhism?
Who were the followers of Jainism from the Indian society?
Where did Jainism flourish and survive?
Where do we find the authentic reference to the existence of Mahavira?
What was the relation between the Buddhists and Jains during the days of Buddha?
Who was the father of Mahavira?
When was Mahavira born?
What was the name of the tribe of Mahavira?
What was the name of the father of Mahavira?
When was Mahavira born?
What was the political importance of the Jnatrika tribe?
The association of which family had given the political importance to the Jnatrika tribe?
How was Mahavira related to the Licchavi tribe?
What was the name of the maternal uncle of Mahavira?
What was the name of the mother of Mahavira?
Who was the son of Trishala of Licchavi tribe?
Who was the sister of Chetaka of Licchavi tribe?
What was the political importance of the Licchavi tribe?
When did Mahavira leave home for the search of salvation?
At what age did Mahavira leave home in the search of salvation?
Who were the establishers of the ascetic group of Nirgrantha?
Whom did Mahavira first adopt after he left the family life for the search of salvation?
When did Parshva establish the ascetic group of Nirgranthas?
How many Tirthankaras were there?
Who was the twenty-third Tirthankara?
What was the other name of the Jains?
For how many years did Mahavira wondered in the search of salvation?
When did Mahavira abandon the wearing of clothes?
Who was the partner his salvation search for the first six years of his wandering?
Which new sect did Goshala Maskariputa find after parting with Mahavira?
With whom was Goshala Maskariputa associated in the search of salvation?
What is the verbal meaning of Nirgrantha?
In which year Mahavira achieve the enlightenment?
What are the two titles given to Mahavira after he had achieved the enlightenment?
What is the meaning of Jina?
What is the meaning of Arihant?
For how many years did Mahavira propagated his divine knowledge?
In which region of India did Mahavira popularized his teachings?
Which kings were his patrons?
Who had dies earlier than Mahavira?
At what age did Mahavira dies?
Where did Mahavira dies?
How did Mahavira dies?
Where is Pava where Mahavira died?
What is the probable year of the death of Mahavira?
Which sect was more important then Jain after the death of Mahavira for the next two hundred years?
When did Jainism become an important force?
Who was the leading emperor who adopted Jainism?
How did the famine in the later years of the reign of Chandra Gupta effect the spread of Jainism?
In which direction did Jainism spread when famine spread in Maghada at the end of the reign of Chandra Gupta?
What effect did the migration of Jains during the end of the reign of Maurya king Chandragupta leave of the overall unity of Jainism?
Who had leaded the migration to south during the end of the reign of Chandragupta Maurya?
On which point did the schism take place in the Jain sect?
What change did Sthulabhadra allow among the Jains on the question of the wearing of clothes?
What was the attitude of Bhadrbhahu on the question of the wearing of clothes?
Among which group the tradition of the wearing of clothes did begin?
Which two sects emerge among the Jains on the question of wearing of clothes?
What is the meaning of Digambara?
What is the meaning of Shvetambara?
When did the schism in Jainism in two sects become totally complete?
Was there any difference between Shvetambara and Digambara on the question of Jain doctrine?
What aspect of Shvetambara way of life did Digambara adopt?
In what from did the Jain literature available from the time of Mahavira?
How long did the original literature of the Jains survived in its original form?
Who was the last person who knew the original literature of the Jains?
Who had arranged the writing of the Jain literature?
In which form did the Jain literature available?
What was the meaning of the Angas, which constitute the original literature of the Jains?
Who had arranged the reconstruction of the Jain literature?
Where was the Jain literature reduced into writing?
What was the basis of the Angas literature?
How many Angas were written? How many Purvas were there?
Who had adopted the Angas literature as their Semitic literature?
What was the attitude of Digambara on the Angas?
What did Digambara do when they did not accept Angas as their literature?
What was the stand of the Digambara on the question of the original teachings of the Jains when the Angas were written?
Where do we find the literature of the Digambara?
Where was the Angas finally reduced to their present from?
When was the assembly of Vallabhi organized where the final version of the Angas was written?
What major changes had taken place by the fifth century when the Angas were finally written at the Vallabhi assembly?
How many Upanagas are there?
How many original Angas are available now?
What other work had crept along with Upanagas?
Which type of literature was written in Middle ages?
What was the language of the commentarial literature, which was written in the Middle Ages?
Did the Jain monk write secular literature also?
Name the two Jain monks who had written the secular literature?
What did Nayachandra, a Jain monk write?
When did Nayachandra write in Sanskrit?
What is important about the writings of the Nayachandra?
What had Mallinatha, the Jain monk written?
What was the tradition among the Jain monks on the question of writing literature?
Where do we find the literature of old times written by the Jain minks?
What is the position of the secular literature written by Jain monks and which are available in the old monasteries of Western India?
Where was Jainism popular between the periods of Mauryas and Guptas?
Where was Jainism popular after the Guptan period?
Where was the Shvetambara popular after the Guptan period?
Where was the Digambara sect popular after the Guptan period?
What was the position of the original place of the Jainism in the post Gupta period?
Which were the main region of the popularity and the origin of the Jainism?
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The royalty of which region patronized Jainism?
Which sect did the royalty of the Western India patronize?
Which king was popular for having patronized the Shvetambara sect of Jainism?
Which Chalukya King patronized the Shvetambara Sect of Jainism?
When did Kumarpala, the Chalukya King, who patronized the Shvetambara sect of Jainsim, reigned in Western India?
Who was the popular Jain scholar of Kumarpala period?
What activity did the king Kumarpala undertake under the influence of the scholar Hemchandra concerning the Jainism?
What was the position of the Digambara in South India during the Middle Ages?
What was the attitude of the South Indian Kings towards the Digambara during the Middle ages?
When did the influence of the Digamabar decline in the South India?
What had happened to the popularity of Digambara in South India when the popularity of devotional Saivism and Vaishnavism grew in South India?
Were the Jains severely prosecuted in South India?
What is the authenticity of the Jain teaching in both the sects of Jainsim?
What is the ac6tual nature of the teaching of the Jains and what similarity did it have with the teaching of the Buddhism?
What is the stand of the Jainsim on the question of the existence of Gods?
What is the position of the gods in Jainsim in the universal scheme?
What is the guiding principle of the functioning of the universe as per the Jainism?
What is the guiding principle of the functioning of the universe?
What is the position of the existence of the universe as per the Jain tenants?
In how many cycles had the existence of the universe divided as per the Jain tenants?
In how many cycles is one cycle divided?
What is the utsarpini cycle?
What is avasarpini cycle?
How many Tirthankaras are there in each cycle?
How many Chakravartins are there in each cycle?
How many Shalakapurushas are there in a cycle?
To which categories of the exalted being did the Tirthankaras and Chakravartins belong?
At what duration did the sixty-three exalted beings exist in a cycle?
What is the age of the men at the peak period of a cycle?
What is the size of the men at the peak of a cycle?
Who is the giver to the men at the peak of a cycle?
What do the men require at the peak period of a cycle?
What is the present position of the running cycle?
Where had the last Trithankara reached by now?
What will happen to the religion with the advancing cycle as per the Jain religion?
For how long the process of the decline will continue in the present cycle?
What will happen to the size of the man as the cycle advances to its end?
What will be the actual and maximum age of the man when the cycle advances to its final stage?
What will the man remember at the end of the cycle?
Where will the man be living at the end of the cycle as per the Jain cosmology?
What is the actual theory of the progress as per the Jain cosmology?
How does the universe function as per the Jains' theory?
How many ajivas are there as per the Jain theory?
Which are the seven fundamental functions for the working of the universe?
Which of the existing things in universe posses the soul?
What is the actual nature of the soul?
What is the appearance of the soul?
How many souls are there in the universe as per the Jain teachings?
What is the status of the various souls as per the Jain teachings?
What is the cause of the difference between the various souls, which are otherwise equal in status?
When does the soul loose its brightness?
From what stages the soul passes as it gain in the karmic matter?
How is the Karma attached to the soul?
What does the cruel and selfish Karma do to the soul as compared to the other activities?
What is the cause of the continue cycle of rebirth and transmigration?
How could a person get free from continuous accumulation of the Karma?
What could be the permanent state of the existence of some of the souls as per the Jain teachings?
How will the Nirjara take place, which is the only way to end the accumulation of the karma forces?
What are the various steps of the Nirjara?
What happens to the soul at the highest level?
What is the definition of Nirvana as per the Chain tenants?
What is the basic nature of the Jain religion as compared to the developments in the nature of the Buddhism and Hinduism?
What is the cause of the survival of the Jain religion?
Is the full salvation possible to the layman as per the Jain tenants?
What is the peculiar about the practices in Jainism to attain the salvation?
What is the possibility for a man in these days for achieving the Nirvana?
What is the actual nature of the life of a Jain monk?
What are the major ceremonies of a Jain monk at the time of the initiation?
What are the rules concerning their eating habits?
Which are the five vows, which govern the life of the Jain monks?
Which is the strong cause of the binding of the Karma?
Which of the profession is totally prohibited to the Jains due to the teachings?
What is stand of Jains on the question of non-violence?
What was the main reason of the survival of Jainism in India?
What was the position of the Jain lay folk in the Jain Order?
How did the lay folk fulfill the requirements of the monastic life while living the householder life in Jainism?
Which of the virtues of Jains encouraged the commercial activities?
Which another religion along with Jainism encouraged such virtues, which encouraged the commerce activity among their followers?
Which class of the society had become the members of the Jain Order?
Why was it that the Jain followers became the merchants?
What are the proofs that the Jain followers have become rich at a very earlier stage in the history of India?
Is there any special social doctrine in Jainism?
How did Jains fulfill their social rites?
Which is the major feature of the Jain cult during its earlier stage of its development, which had the similarity with the Buddhism?
What another feature had emerged among the Jains which was adopted by Hinduism at a large scale later on?
How did Hindu cult have fused with the Jain cult?
What is the actual nature of the ethics of the Jains?
What is the prominent ethic of the Jains?
What feature had been revealed in Acharanga Sutra of Jains?

The Appendix on Jain Philosophy given at the end of the book should be read sincerely. It is very important. An essay on Shayadvada is given there. It is helpful in finding the right option in MCQ during the Preliminary.

It is also helpful in writing a question on cultural traits of Pre-Mauyran society which had appeared number of times in Mains. Some of the leading Coaching classes experts ask the candidates to skip such questions. However, as number of times there are questions on economic or social features of Pre-Muaryan and Post Muaryan period, and many successful candidates in the leading competition magazines had categorically stated that they had attempted such un-orthodox questions. It is not difficult to write such questions if some fundamentals become clear. The appendix given at the end are very useful in writing such questions. One of the leading Tutorial course of Chennai had attempted such questions and that include questions of Pre-Mauryan period. But it is difficult to practice that question only because it is difficult to understand the concepts there. Hence, it is adivsed that if you are preparing a set of question apart from general type of political questions which continue to repeat in the papers, then reading and making notes of this section would be highly useful.

I will definitely write some such questions. If they appeal to you then it will be a satisfying exercise.

Remember in history you can get between 360 to 380 marks in Mains and selection of such question can be very decisive.

Attention Please:

Can any one tell about a successful candidate who had crossed 400 marks in history in Mains. I am interested in learning about his set of questions. I will only accept his set if he can manage to show me his result card.