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Predicted Questions with Model Answers
Q1 (5 marks — 50 words): Name and briefly explain the six orthodox schools (Astika Darshanas) of Indian philosophy.
Model Answer:
The six Astika schools accept Vedic authority: Nyaya (Gautama) — logic and 4 valid knowledge sources; Vaisheshika (Kanada) — atomic theory; Samkhya (Kapila) — Purusha-Prakriti dualism; Yoga (Patanjali) — 8-limbed practice path; Mimamsa (Jaimini) — Vedic ritual; Vedanta (Badarayana) — Brahman-Atman relationship. Three heterodox schools (Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka) reject Vedic authority.
Q2 (5 marks — 50 words): Write a short note on the Chishti Sufi order in India.
Model Answer:
The Chishti order was established in India by Moinuddin Chishti (c. 1141–1236 CE) at Ajmer, titled "Gharib Nawaz." Key successors: Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (Delhi) and Nizamuddin Auliya (Delhi, d. 1325). Distinguished by emphasis on love, service to the poor, and devotional music (sama/qawwali). The Chishti tradition was most open to Hindu spiritual practices and built the widest social base across communities.
Q3 (5 marks — 50 words): Explain Anekantavada and Syadvada in Jain philosophy.
Model Answer:
Anekantavada ("many-sidedness") holds that reality is complex and no single perspective captures it completely — every claim has partial validity. Syadvada (conditional predication) requires qualifying all statements with "in some sense" (syat) — yielding seven forms of assertion: "it is," "it is not," "it both is and is not," etc. Together they form a sophisticated relativist epistemology that challenges dogmatic truth claims by any single school.
Q4 (10 marks — 150 words): Evaluate the social significance of the Bhakti movement in medieval India. How did it challenge existing social hierarchies?
Model Answer:
The Bhakti movement (6th–17th century CE) was not merely a religious revival but a profound social revolution that fundamentally challenged the caste-based, ritual-dominated social order of medieval India.
Challenge to caste: Bhakti saints accepted disciples across caste lines — Ramananda's twelve disciples included Kabir (Muslim weaver), Raidas (cobbler), and Sena (barber). Tukaram, a shudra, was persecuted by Brahmins but vindicated. The Nayanmars included "untouchable" saints like Tiruneelakanta Nayanar and Kannappar.
Women's agency: Female saints like Mirabai (Rajputani), Andal (Tamil Alvar), and Akka Mahadevi (Karnataka, Lingayat movement) asserted spiritual authority independent of male household roles — a radical assertion in medieval patriarchal society.
Vernacularisation: By composing in Tamil, Marathi, Awadhi, Brajbhasha, and Rajasthani rather than Sanskrit, Bhakti saints democratised religious expression — making spiritual knowledge accessible to the non-literate masses.
Limitations: Despite challenging ritual, most Bhakti saints did not frontally attack the caste system as a social institution. Caste largely persisted. The movement's social impact was more cultural than structural — it created space for subaltern voices within religion without dismantling social hierarchy.
Q5 (10 marks — 150 words): Compare the core philosophy of the Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Dvaita schools of Vedanta. Which saint founded each?
Model Answer:
All three schools interpret the same canonical texts — the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita (prasthanatrayi) — but reach fundamentally different conclusions about the relationship between God, self, and world.
Advaita Vedanta (Shankaracharya, c. 788–820 CE): "Non-dualism" — Brahman (ultimate reality) alone is real; the individual self (Atman) is ultimately identical with Brahman; the perceived world is maya (illusion superimposed on Brahman). Liberation = realising this identity. Shankaracharya established four Mathas (Sringeri, Puri, Dvarka, Badrinath) to propagate this teaching and travelled India debating opponents.
Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja, c. 1017–1137 CE): "Qualified non-dualism" — Brahman is real and is the inner controller of both individual souls (chit) and matter (achit), which are real but exist as Brahman's "body." Individual devotion to a personal God (Vishnu/Narayana) leads to liberation. This school influenced the Alvar Bhakti tradition and North Indian Vaishnavism.
Dvaita (Madhva, c. 1238–1317 CE): "Pure dualism" — God (Vishnu), individual souls (jivas), and the material world are three eternally distinct realities. No soul is ever identical with God. Liberation = eternal conscious enjoyment of God's presence, not merger. This school influenced the Haridasa devotional music tradition in Karnataka.
The three schools represent a spectrum from radical monism (Advaita) through moderate qualified monism (Vishishtadvaita) to strict dualism (Dvaita) — all three remain living philosophical traditions in modern India.
Q6 (5 marks — 50 words): Who were the Nayanmars and Alvars? What is their contribution to Indian devotional literature?
Model Answer:
Nayanmars were 63 Tamil Shaivite saints (6th–9th century CE) whose hymns are compiled in Tevaram (first 7 books of Tirumurai). Alvars were 12 Tamil Vaishnava saints whose 4,000 verses form the Nalayira Divya Prabandham ("Tamil Veda"). Both pioneered Bhakti devotion through vernacular Tamil, democratising religious expression, inspiring later North Indian Bhakti movements, and creating Tamil Nadu's most cherished devotional literary heritage.