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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

The concept of Shramanic religions, with particular reference to Buddhism, had their roots in Upanisadic ideas. Discuss.

  • UPSC 2018
  • Period of Mahajanapadas

The Shramanic movements of the sixth century BCE — Buddhism, Jainism, and the Ajivika and materialist schools among them — did not arise in a vacuum outside the Vedic fold; they matured alongside the Upanishads, the last stratum of Vedic literature, in the same intellectual ferment of the middle Gangetic plains. Both currents were reacting…

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What the full answer covers

  • A Shared Crucible: The Second Urbanisation
  • Continuities: What Buddhism Owes the Upanishads
  • Departures: Where Buddhism Broke Away
  • The Historiographical Debate

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