UPPSC 2025 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 26 of 150

Correct — B, 2, 1, 4, 3, that is Rajagriha → Vaishali → Pataliputra → Kundalvana. The First Council met at Rajagriha (Rajgir) in the rains immediately after the Buddha's mahaparinirvana, under the patronage of Ajatashatru of Magadha and the presidency of Mahakassapa; Ananda recited the Sutta and Upali the Vinaya. The Second Council met at Vaishali about a century later under Kalasoka, called over the 'ten points' of relaxed monastic practice, and it ended in the Sangha's first schism. The Third Council met at Pataliputra in Ashoka's reign under Moggaliputta Tissa, which is when the Kathavatthu was compiled and missionaries were sent abroad. The Fourth Council met at Kundalvana in Kashmir in Kanishka's reign, presided over by Vasumitra with Ashvaghosha as his deputy. The traditional dates (about 483 BCE, 383 BCE, 250 BCE and the first century CE) are approximate and debated among historians, but the sequence itself is not.

• (a)1, 2, 4, 3 — This starts with Vaishali and puts Rajagriha second. The First Council was held at Rajagriha in the year of the Buddha's death, and Vaishali came roughly a hundred years later — so the first two positions are swapped. The rest of the sequence (Pataliputra, then Kundalvana) is right, which is exactly what makes this option tempting.
• (c)2, 1, 3, 4 — The first two are correct (Rajagriha, then Vaishali) but the last two are reversed: it places Kundalvana in Kashmir, held under the Kushana king Kanishka in the first century CE, before Pataliputra, held under Ashoka in the third century BCE — roughly three centuries out of order.
• (d)1, 2, 3, 4 — This simply repeats the order in which the four venues happen to be printed in the question. UPPSC lists them out of sequence on purpose, so 'the list is already chronological' is never a safe assumption; on this option every one of the four positions is wrong.

A Buddhist Council (sangiti, literally a 'joint recitation') was an assembly of monks convened after the Buddha's death to recite, settle and preserve his teaching and the rules of the monastic order. Four are recognised in Indian tradition, and each is identified by four things — its venue, its royal patron, its president, and what it produced. Because the canon was transmitted orally for centuries, these assemblies are the mechanism by which the Tipitaka was fixed, and the disputes at them are the origin of Buddhism's sectarian divisions.

Do not try to recall four dates. Recall four kings instead, because their order is a dynastic sequence you already know: Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty → Kalasoka of the Shishunaga dynasty → Ashoka the Maurya → Kanishka the Kushana. That chain fixes the councils as Rajagriha, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Kundalvana without a single date. A second check is geography: the first three councils are all in Magadha (Rajgir, Vaishali and Pataliputra are in modern Bihar) and only the fourth moves north-west to Kashmir, mirroring the spread of Buddhism itself. The trap here is option (c), which gets the Magadhan pair right and then swaps Ashoka's council with Kanishka's.

• First Council — Rajagriha (Rajgir), traditionally in the rainy season following the Buddha's mahaparinirvana; patron Ajatashatru, presided over by Mahakassapa; Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka and Upali the Vinaya Pitaka
• Second Council — Vaishali, about a century later, under Kalasoka; convened over the 'ten points' of relaxed monastic discipline followed by the Vajjian monks, and it ended in the first schism, between the Sthaviravadins and the Mahasanghikas
• Third Council — Pataliputra, in Ashoka's reign, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa; the Kathavatthu was compiled and missions were despatched abroad, Mahinda's to Sri Lanka being the best known
• Fourth Council — Kundalvana in Kashmir, in Kanishka's reign, presided over by Vasumitra with Ashvaghosha as vice-president; commentaries were composed in Sanskrit and the Hinayana–Mahayana divide hardened
• The patrons in order are Ajatashatru (Haryanka) → Kalasoka (Shishunaga) → Ashoka (Maurya) → Kanishka (Kushana), so the dynastic order alone gives you the council order

• Assuming the venues as printed (1, 2, 3, 4) are already in chronological order — UPPSC scrambles them on purpose
• Reversing the Third and Fourth Councils, that is, putting Kanishka's Kashmir council before Ashoka's Pataliputra council
• Confusing Kundalvana in Kashmir with Kundagrama near Vaishali, which is associated with Mahavira and not with any Buddhist Council

UPPSC asks the councils as a sequence or as a venue–patron–president matching set; UPSC comes at the same material sideways — who presided over the council held under Kanishka, or which Chinese pilgrim could or could not have attended it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Third Buddhist Council, held at Pataliputra during the reign of Ashoka, was presided over by:

  • (a)Mahakassapa
  • (b)Sabbakami
  • (c)Moggaliputta Tissa
  • (d)Vasumitra

  Answer(c) Moggaliputta Tissa — Mahakassapa presided over the First Council at Rajagriha and Vasumitra over the Fourth at Kundalvana.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The first schism in the Buddhist Sangha, which divided it into the Sthaviravadins and the Mahasanghikas, followed which Council?

  • (a)The First Council at Rajagriha
  • (b)The Second Council at Vaishali
  • (c)The Third Council at Pataliputra
  • (d)The Fourth Council at Kundalvana

  Answer(b) The Second Council at Vaishali — it was called over the 'ten points' of relaxed monastic discipline and ended in the order's first split.