Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Explain as to how the early Buddhist Stupa art, while using folk motifs and narratives and common cultural symbols, succeeded in transforming these themes for expounding the Buddhist ideals.

  • UPSC 2013
  • Period of Mahajanapadas

Unlock the full answer · ₹1,499 ↓

The stupas of Bharhut, Sanchi, and Amaravati — raised roughly between the second century BCE and the second century CE — belong to a phase of Buddhist art that predates the anthropomorphic image of the Buddha. Lacking a human figure to carry the doctrine, the sculptors of the toranas and vedikas turned to the visual…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Aniconism and the Need for a Narrative Vocabulary
  • Yakshas, Yakshinis, and the Absorption of Fertility Cults
  • Animal Motifs and the Iconography of the Buddha's Qualities
  • Lotus, Tree, and Water: Reorienting Auspiciousness Toward Dharma
  • From Court Patronage to Popular Legibility
History Optional PYQ Master Pack

History Optional PYQ Master Pack

Unlock this answer and 1,350+ more

  • 1,350+ solved UPSC History Optional PYQs from 1985 to 2025, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Post-Independence and World History
  • Model answers with a clear structure and historian citations
  • Map section solutions included, at no extra cost
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get History Optional PYQ Master Pack @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · No subscription · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Period of Mahajanapadas question (35 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in