The Fourth Buddhist Council, held during the reign of Kanishka, took place in which region?
- A.Rajagriha
- B.Vaishali
- C.Pataliputra
- D.Kashmir
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Kashmir. The Fourth Buddhist Council met in Kashmir under the patronage of the Kushana ruler Kanishka I. Vasumitra presided over it and Ashvaghosha acted as his deputy, and its work of collecting commentaries on the canon went with the open division of Buddhism into the Mahayana and Hinayana schools. Tradition says the proceedings were engraved on copper sheets and placed in a stupa, and the council is the reason Kanishka is remembered in Buddhist writing as a second Ashoka. The four councils, their venues, their royal patrons and their presiding monks make a fixed list in examinations, and a question usually removes one item from it.
Option A, Rajagriha, hosted the First Council soon after the death of the Buddha, under Ajatashatru, with Mahakassapa presiding. Option B, Vaishali, hosted the Second Council about a century later, under Kalashoka. Option C, Pataliputra, hosted the Third Council under Ashoka, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa.
Read the full article: Post-Mauryan Period: Kushanas, Satavahanas and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich among the following was the second capital of the Kushanas in ancient India?
- A.Patliputra
- B.Delhi
- C.Lahore
- D.Mathura
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The main Kushana capital was Purushapura, the modern Peshawar, which Kanishka I developed as his seat of power. As the empire spread into the Ganga-Yamuna plain, Mathura on the Yamuna became its second capital and the southern headquarters of the family.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was NOT a ruler of the Kushana dynasty?
- A.Nahapana
- B.Vasishka
- C.Vasudeva
- D.Huvishka
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Nahapana belonged to the Kshaharata family of the Shakas, the Western Kshatrapas who ruled in western India, and not to the Kushanas at all.
Read the full explanation →Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in the court of which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Bindusara
- C.Kanishka
- D.Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni
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Ashvaghosha was a Buddhist monk and Sanskrit poet at the court of the Kushana ruler Kanishka I. He wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in Sanskrit verse, and the Saundarananda, and he acted as deputy to Vasumitra at the Fourth Buddhist Council held in Kashmir.
Read the full explanation →In which language was Gatha Saptasati, by the king Hala, written?
- A.Sanskrit
- B.Pali
- C.Prakrit
- D.Hindi
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The Gathasaptasati, also written as Gatha Saptasati, is an anthology of seven hundred short verses compiled by the Satavahana king Hala.
Read the full explanation →The sculpture which is known as the Submission of Nalgiri has been found at:
- A.Bharhut
- B.Amrawati
- C.Mathura
- D.Sanchi
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The panel showing the submission of the mad elephant Nalagiri, sent by Devadatta to kill the Buddha and calmed by him in the street of Rajagriha, is among the best known carvings of the Amaravati stupa on the lower Krishna in Andhra Pradesh.
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