SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 95

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Given below are two statements: Statement I: The harmika of a stupa is the symbolic abode of the gods, located at the top. Statement II: The harmika is where relics of the Buddha were usually kept. Which of the following statements is/are correct?

(a)Both statements are true and Statement II is the correct explanation of Statement I
(b)Both statements are true but Statement II is not the correct explanation of Statement I
(c)Statement I is true but Statement II is false
(d)Statement II is true but statement I is false

Answer

Why

Correct — C. NCERT's Themes in Indian History (Part I) builds the stupa from the ground up. The mound is the anda, and above it sits the harmika, "a balcony-like structure that represented the abode of the gods." Statement I holds.

Statement II does not. NCERT says the relics were buried at the site and the stupa was raised over them. I true, II false: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Both statements are true and Statement II is the correct explanation of Statement I — Statement II is false, so a 'both true' option cannot stand. NCERT has the relics buried at the site with the mound raised over them, while the harmika above the dome stood for the abode of the gods.
(b)
Both statements are true but Statement II is not the correct explanation of Statement I — 'Both true' needs Statement II, and it is false. The relics were buried under the mound, not kept in the harmika, so whether II explains I never arises.
(d)
Statement II is true but statement I is false — It flips the truth values. Statement I is the true one, close to NCERT's own words on the harmika. Statement II, placing the relics in the harmika, is the false one.

Concept

A stupa began as a simple semi-circular mound of earth, later called the anda. Above the anda sat the harmika, the balcony-like structure standing for the abode of the gods.

From the harmika rose a mast, the yashti, often topped by a chhatri or umbrella. A railing round the mound separated the sacred space from the secular world.

Stupas were sacred because they held relics of the Buddha: his bodily remains or objects he had used.

Statement I says the harmika is "located at the top". Strictly, the yashti and chhatri rise above it, and the harmika crowns the dome. The key reads "top" that way, which matches NCERT placing it above the anda.

Key facts

Anda: the stupa's mound, in NCERT's words a simple semi-circular mound of earth.
Harmika: the balcony-like structure above the anda, representing the abode of the gods.
Yashti: the mast rising from the harmika, often surmounted by a chhatri (umbrella).
The Ashokavadana says Asoka distributed portions of the Buddha's relics to every important town and ordered stupas built over them.

Study next

The gateways and railings of the Great Stupa at SanchiThe early stupas at Sanchi and BharhutStupa, chaitya and vihara as distinct Buddhist structures

Common traps

Putting the relics in the harmika because it sits on top like a casket. The relics were buried under the mound.
Doubting Statement I over the words "at the top", when the harmika does crown the dome.

Here stupa architecture is tested through two statements about a single part. Buddhist history also appears at 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.24, on the fourth Buddhist council where Buddhism split into Hinayana and Mahayana (keyed Kushana).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 246 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.