CTET 2016 Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Ramanuja. Ramanuja, born at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, taught Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism. He held that the soul, even when it becomes one with the supreme God Vishnu, keeps its own separate existence, and that the surest way to salvation is intense devotion, bhakti, to Vishnu. Deeply influenced by the Alvar saints, he opened temple worship and devotion to people of every caste, and his ideas later inspired Ramananda and the Bhakti saints of the north. B is wrong because Shankara, of eighth century Kerala, taught Advaita, pure non-dualism, in which Brahman alone is real and the world is maya. A and D are wrong because Allama Prabhu and Basavanna belonged to the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement of Karnataka, which worshipped Shiva in the form of the linga and rejected caste and ritual rather than framing this school. Exam tip: Shankara for Advaita, Ramanuja for Vishishtadvaita and Madhvacharya for Dvaita.