The third Buddhist council was held at Pataliputra under the patronage of
- A.Ajatashatru
- B.Kalashoka
- C.Ashoka
- D.Kanishka
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Ashoka. The third council met at Pataliputra in the reign of Ashoka, with Moggaliputta Tissa presiding. It added the Abhidhamma Pitaka to the canon, expelled monks who had entered the order for easy living, and sent missionaries out, including Mahendra and Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka, which is why the council is treated as the turning point in the spread of Buddhism beyond India.
Option A, Ajatashatru, was the patron of the first council at Rajgriha. Option B, Kalashoka, was the patron of the second at Vaishali, and his name is close enough to Ashoka's to make this the trap in the question. Option D, Kanishka, patronised the fourth council at Kundalvana in Kashmir, where the Mahayana and Hinayana division hardened. Place and patron should be learnt as one unit.
Read the full article: Buddhism and Jainism in Bihar: Sites and Councils
Practice Questions
View allThe Buddha attained enlightenment at which place in present day Bihar?
- A.Rajgir
- B.Bodh Gaya
- C.Vaishali
- D.Pataliputra
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Gautama attained enlightenment at Uruvela, the Bodh Gaya of today, under a peepal tree on the bank of the Niranjana river, which is called the Phalgu now.
Read the full explanation →The term Tripitakas in Buddhism means three
- A.baskets
- B.houses
- C.roads
- D.trees
Show answer
Tripitaka is a Pali and Sanskrit word in which pitaka means a basket, so the whole means three baskets, a name that came from the practice of keeping the palm leaf manuscripts of each collection in a separate basket.
Read the full explanation →The first Buddhist council was held at which place?
- A.Vaishali
- B.Pataliputra
- C.Rajgriha
- D.Kundalvana
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The first Buddhist council met at Rajgriha, the Rajgir of today, in the Saptaparni cave soon after the Buddha's death, under the patronage of king Ajatashatru and the presidency of Mahakassapa.
Read the full explanation →Mahavira, the twenty fourth Jain tirthankara, attained nirvana at
- A.Pavapuri
- B.Kundagrama
- C.Sammed Shikhar
- D.Rajgriha
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Mahavira attained nirvana at Pavapuri in the present Nalanda district of Bihar at the age of seventy two, traditionally in 527 BCE, and the Jal Mandir, a marble temple standing in the middle of a tank, marks the place of his cremation.
Read the full explanation →At which place was the second Buddhist council held, a hundred years after the Buddha's death?
- A.Rajgriha
- B.Vaishali
- C.Bodh Gaya
- D.Nalanda
Show answer
The second council met at Vaishali about a century after the Buddha's death, under king Kalashoka of the Shishunaga dynasty, with Sabakami presiding.
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