RAS question
Bimbisara, the founder of the Haryanka dynasty, was a contemporary of:
Correct answer: (C) Both Buddha and Mahavira.
Bimbisara, the founder of the Haryanka dynasty, was a contemporary of both Buddha and Mahavira.
Explanation
Bimbisara is placed in the same age as both Buddha and Mahavira, so the answer is not limited to either religious teacher alone. The chronology, c. 544-492 BCE, fits the early Magadhan setting in which new religious movements were active. Encyclopaedia Britannica supports the Buddhist link by describing Bimbisara as one of Buddha's protectors and as the king connected with Rajagriha. He gifted the Veluvana, or Bamboo Grove, monastery at Rajagriha to the Sangha. His reign also led to a dynastic turn: his son Ajatashatru imprisoned and killed him to seize the throne. Together, these points make "both Buddha and Mahavira" the only complete option.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Only Buddha is incomplete because the question asks for Bimbisara's contemporaries, and Mahavira was his contemporary too.
- (B) Only Mahavira is incomplete because Bimbisara also belongs to Buddha's time and patronised Buddha.
- (D) Alexander the Great does not fit because Alexander's Indian campaign came much later, in 326 BCE.
Concept
This tests the Ancient India linkage between early Magadha and the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. RAS often asks such cross-references because dynasty chronology, religious movements and key rulers overlap in the same syllabus area.