SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 19 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 24 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

During which of the following rules did Buddhism get split into two schools - Hinayana and Mahayana in the fourth Buddhist council?

(a)Gupta
(b)Parthian
(c)Kushana
(d)Shaka

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Fourth Buddhist Council met under Kanishka, the Kushana ruler, in Kashmir.

It was presided over by Vasumitra, with Ashvaghosha as his deputy, and the commentaries it produced were composed in Sanskrit rather than in Pali.

This council is the point at which the textbook account places the formal separation of Buddhism into Hinayana and Mahayana, which is exactly what the stem describes.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Gupta — Gupta rule came centuries after Kanishka and is associated with a Brahmanical revival and with Sanskrit court culture, not with the Buddhist council that divided the schools.
(b)
Parthian — Parthian rule in the north-west was a short episode between the Shakas and the Kushanas, remembered mainly for Gondophares. No Buddhist council is placed in it.
(d)
Shaka — Shaka rulers such as Rudradaman I, of the Junagadh rock inscription, belong to the same broad centuries, which is why the option is offered. The council itself belongs to the Kushanas.

Concept

Four Buddhist councils frame the early history of the sangha, and each is remembered by its ruler, its venue and its president.

First: Rajagriha, under Ajatashatru, presided by Mahakassapa. Second: Vaishali, under Kalasoka. Third: Pataliputra, under Ashoka, presided by Moggaliputta Tissa. Fourth: Kashmir, under Kanishka, presided by Vasumitra.

The fourth is the one attached both to the Hinayana-Mahayana division and to the move from Pali to Sanskrit in Buddhist writing.

The division into Hinayana and Mahayana was a long doctrinal development, not an event of a single day. The textbook shorthand that ties it to the Fourth Council is what the stem is testing, and the key follows it.

Key facts

The Fourth Buddhist Council was held in Kashmir under Kanishka of the Kushana dynasty.
It was presided over by Vasumitra, with Ashvaghosha as deputy.
The Third Council met at Pataliputra under Ashoka, presided by Moggaliputta Tissa.
The texts associated with the Fourth Council were written in Sanskrit, marking a shift away from Pali.

Study next

The four Buddhist councils: venue, ruler and president of eachKanishka and the Kushana empire: Gandhara and Mathura artHinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana: the doctrinal differences

Common traps

Placing the Fourth Council under Ashoka, who convened the Third.
Treating Kushana and Shaka as interchangeable north-western dynasties.
Reading the split as created at the council rather than formalised there.

The Kushanas are asked through Kanishka, through their coinage and through Mathura art. Compare 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.5 on Brahmanical sculptures of the Mathura school, and 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.25 on Vasudeva I and his gold dinars.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.