UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q134: Who said that the Brahmans and Shramanas were two types of

Q: What is the answer to UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q134?

B. Correct — B, Megasthenes. **Megasthenes** reached Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra as an envoy of Seleucus I Nicator, and wrote an account of the country called the Indica. The book itself is lost; it reaches us as passages quoted by later Greek and Roman writers. In that account he sorted the population into seven classes and placed the philosophers first. He then split the philosophers themselves into two kinds — the Brachmanes and the Sarmanes, that is the Brahmanas and the Shramanas. The idea to carry away: **the two-fold division of philosophers into Brahmanas and Shramanas comes down to us as a Greek visitor's description of Mauryan society**, preserved above all in Strabo's quotation of the Indica.

UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 134 of 147

Verified against the official question booklet. Answer as per UKPSC's provisional answer key.

Answers from UKPSC's provisional answer key. The Commission publishes a provisional key for UKPSC Prelims 2024 and invites objections before issuing a final key. Every answer shown here is the Commission's own provisional answer (key PDF), not our derivation. If the final key changes an answer, this page is updated to match.

Who said that the Brahmans and Shramanas were two types of philosophers?

(a)Kautilya
(b)Megasthenes
(c)Upagupta
(d)None of these

Answer

Why

Correct — B, Megasthenes.

Megasthenes reached Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra as an envoy of Seleucus I Nicator, and wrote an account of the country called the Indica. The book itself is lost; it reaches us as passages quoted by later Greek and Roman writers.

In that account he sorted the population into seven classes and placed the philosophers first. He then split the philosophers themselves into two kinds — the Brachmanes and the Sarmanes, that is the Brahmanas and the Shramanas.

The idea to carry away: the two-fold division of philosophers into Brahmanas and Shramanas comes down to us as a Greek visitor's description of Mauryan society, preserved above all in Strabo's quotation of the Indica.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Kautilya — Kautilya is the name attached to the Arthashastra, the Sanskrit manual of statecraft, administration and revenue, and tradition makes him Chandragupta Maurya's minister. He belongs to the same court, which is what gives this option its pull.
He is the right answer to questions on the Arthashastra — its seven-limb (saptanga) theory of the state and its mandala scheme of neighbouring kings. The classification of society quoted in this stem belongs instead to the Greek envoy's account of India.
(c)
Upagupta — Upagupta belongs to Buddhist narrative tradition rather than to writing on Indian social classes. The Ashokavadana, a Sanskrit Buddhist text, presents him as Ashoka's spiritual preceptor.
He is the right answer to questions about the monk who, in the Ashokavadana, guides Ashoka to the places associated with the Buddha's life. Ashoka's reign, and so that tradition, falls later than Megasthenes' embassy to Chandragupta.
(d)
None of these — Option (b) names the writer whose account of India carries the two-fold division of philosophers, so the list already holds the person the key identifies.
'None of these' is the right answer to items where each named alternative is genuinely mismatched with the claim in the stem. It earns its place by elimination, not by a name looking unfamiliar.

Concept

Megasthenes' Indica is among the earliest outside descriptions of Indian society. It does not survive as a book: what we have are passages quoted or paraphrased by later authors, chiefly Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Arrian.

Its most-quoted piece is a seven-fold division of the population that begins with the philosophers. Within that first group Megasthenes distinguished two kinds, the Brachmanes and the Sarmanes — the Brahmanas of the Vedic tradition and the shramanas, the renouncer-ascetics.

The pairing matters because Indian sources register the same distinction on their own. Ashoka's rock edicts enjoin gifts and courtesy towards samanas and brahmanas as a pair, and the grammatical tradition treats shramana-brahmana as a standing compound of opposites.

So a Greek visitor, an emperor's edicts and a Sanskrit grammarian each reflect the same two-track religious landscape in the centuries around the Mauryas. That convergence is why the Indica is used as historical evidence and not read as mere travellers' curiosity.

Key facts

Megasthenes was sent to Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra as an envoy of Seleucus I Nicator.
His Indica survives only in fragments quoted by later writers, chiefly Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Arrian.
Strabo's Geography preserves the statement that Megasthenes made the philosophers two kinds, the Brachmanes and the Sarmanes.
The Sarmanes of the Greek text correspond to the shramanas, the ascetics of the renouncer traditions such as Buddhism, Jainism and the Ajivikas.
Megasthenes divided Indian society into seven classes and named the philosophers first among them.
He called Pataliputra 'Palibothra' and placed it where the Erannoboas joins the Ganges.
Greek accounts drawing on Megasthenes report that no Indian was a slave, a claim historians set against the Arthashastra's rules on dasas.
Ashoka's rock edicts pair samanas and brahmanas as the groups deserving liberality and respect.
Patanjali's Mahabhashya cites shramana-brahmana among compounds joining parties in standing opposition.
Later Greek envoys to the Mauryas include Deimachus, sent by Antiochus I, and Dionysius, sent by Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Which name goes with which text

Megasthenes — Indica→Philosophers of two kinds: Brachmanes and Sarmanes

Kautilya — Arthashastra→Statecraft: saptanga state, mandala of neighbouring kings

Upagupta — Ashokavadana→Ashoka's monk-preceptor in Buddhist narrative

Strabo — Geography→Later Greek writer who quotes the Indica's division

Patanjali — Mahabhashya→Grammar; cites shramana-brahmana as a pair of opposites

The highlighted row carries the keyed answer: the two-fold split of philosophers sits inside Megasthenes' Indica.

Study next

Megasthenes' seven-fold division of Indian society and how it compares with the four-varna schemeGreek envoys at the Mauryan court: Megasthenes, Deimachus and Dionysius, and the kings who sent themShramana traditions — Buddhism, Jainism and the Ajivikas — and their relation to Vedic ritualAshoka's Major Rock Edicts on samanas and brahmanasThe Arthashastra: the authorship debate, the saptanga theory and the mandala schemeLater foreign accounts of India: Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, Al-Biruni and Ibn Battuta

Common traps

Kautilya also belongs to Chandragupta's court, so a Mauryan-sounding stem can pull towards the Arthashastra when the observation quoted is actually from the Greek envoy's Indica.
The Greek spellings Brachmanes and Sarmanes hide familiar words; missing that Sarmanes is Shramana breaks the link back to Megasthenes.
The Indica is a lost book known through quotation, so a stem may name Strabo or Arrian while the observation itself is still Megasthenes'.
Upagupta belongs with Ashoka, a later reign than Chandragupta's; dating the names apart separates them faster than trying to recall what each wrote.
Treating 'None of these' as a safe hedge when one option is a securely attributed name gives away a mark that a single attribution would have held.

This idea comes as a straight attribution: a statement from a classical account is quoted or summarised, and the choice lies between a Greek observer, a Mauryan minister and a figure from Buddhist tradition.

It also appears as matching — envoy to the king who sent him, text to its author, or a scheme of social classes to the writer who recorded it. Knowing that Megasthenes wrote the Indica, and that its philosophers divide into Brahmanas and Shramanas, answers each of those shapes.

Related PYQs

No eligible match among this question's citable set.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Megasthenes came to the Mauryan court as the envoy of which ruler?
- (a)Alexander of Macedon
- (b)Seleucus I Nicator
- (c)Antiochus I
- (d)Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Answerb — Seleucus I Nicator sent Megasthenes to Chandragupta Maurya at Pataliputra after the settlement between the two rulers.
Alexander is the right answer for the Indian campaign and the battle against Porus on the Hydaspes, not for an embassy to Pataliputra. Antiochus I is named as the ruler who sent Deimachus, and Ptolemy II Philadelphus as the sender of Dionysius.
practice — not a real PYQ
In the account of Indian society reported from Megasthenes, the population was divided into how many classes?
- (a)Four
- (b)Five
- (c)Six
- (d)Seven
Answerd — the fragments preserved in Diodorus, Strabo and Arrian describe seven classes, with the philosophers named first.
Four is the count of varnas in the Brahmanical scheme, a different classification from a different set of sources, so it answers a question about varna rather than about the Indica. Five and six correspond to neither scheme.
practice — not a real PYQ
Megasthenes' statement that the philosophers were of two kinds is preserved in the Geography of
- (a)Herodotus
- (b)Strabo
- (c)Claudius Ptolemy
- (d)Plutarch
Answerb — Strabo's Geography reports Megasthenes' division of the philosophers into Brachmanes and Sarmanes.
Herodotus wrote in the fifth century BCE, before Megasthenes' embassy, and answers questions on the Histories. Claudius Ptolemy is the name behind the Geographia's coordinates and maps, and Plutarch behind the Life of Alexander, which mentions Sandrocottus.
practice — not a real PYQ
Upagupta is remembered as Ashoka's spiritual preceptor in which text?
- (a)Ashokavadana
- (b)Arthashastra
- (c)Indica
- (d)Mahabhashya
Answera — the Ashokavadana, a Sanskrit Buddhist narrative, presents Upagupta as the monk who guides Ashoka to the places associated with the Buddha's life.
The Arthashastra is the manual of statecraft attached to Kautilya, the Indica is Megasthenes' account of India, and the Mahabhashya is Patanjali's commentary on Panini's grammar.