Jainism and Buddhism

Jainism has 24 Tirthankaras. The FIRST was Rishabhadeva (Adinath, symbol: bull), the 23rd was Parshvanatha (symbol: snake; preached 4 vows), and the 24th and last was Vardhamana Mahavira (599–527 BCE; born Kundagrama near Vaishali; symbol: lion). Mahavira added a 5th vow (Brahmacharya). The Five Vows (Pancha Mahavrata): Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya (non-stealing), Aparigraha (non-possession), Brahmacharya (added by Mahavira). Three Jewels (Triratna): Right Faith, Right Knowledge, Right Conduct. Philosophy: Anekantavada (many-sidedness) and Syadvada. Post-Mahavira, Jainism split into Svetambara (white-clad) and Digambara (sky-clad/naked) — split linked to a famine; Chandragupta Maurya is associated with Bhadrabahu's southern migration.

Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha, 563–483 BCE) was born at LUMBINI (Nepal) into the Shakya clan; attained ENLIGHTENMENT at BODH GAYA (under the Bodhi tree, river Niranjana); delivered his first sermon (Dharmachakra Pravartana) at SARNATH (Deer Park near Varanasi); attained MAHAPARINIRVANA at KUSHINAGAR. Mnemonic 'L-B-S-K' (Lumbini-BodhGaya-Sarnath-Kushinagar). Core teachings: Four Noble Truths (suffering exists, has a cause/desire, can cease, and the path to cessation) and the Eightfold Path (Ashtangika Marga — the Middle Path). Concepts: anatta (no-soul), anicca (impermanence), Nirvana. Triratna: Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. He taught in Pali.

The four Buddhist Councils are a standing favourite of UPSC Prelims — every other year a question asks for the king, the venue or the president of one of them. Remember the sequence and you have not just facts but a clean window into how Buddhism organised, debated and split itself across seven centuries.

Definition: A Buddhist Council (Sangiti) is a formal assembly of Buddhist monks convened to standardise the teachings (Dhamma) and the monastic code (Vinaya), and to settle doctrinal disputes. Buddhist tradition records four major councils held in ancient India.

Definition: The Tripitaka (Pali for "three baskets") is the core canon of early Buddhism, comprising the Sutta Pitaka (sermons of the Buddha), the Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules) and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (philosophical analysis).

First Council — Rajagriha, 483 BCE

Held shortly after the Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, the First Council met at Rajagriha (Rajagaha, near modern Rajgir in Bihar), under the patronage of King Ajatashatru of Magadha. It was presided over by the senior monk Mahakassapa. The aim was simple and urgent: to preserve the Buddha's teachings before the memory of his words faded among the surviving monks.

Two outcomes mattered. The monk Ananda, who had been the Buddha's personal attendant for 25 years and was famed for having heard every sermon, recited the Sutta Pitaka — the collection of discourses. The monk Upali, master of monastic discipline, recited the Vinaya Pitaka — the rules for monks and nuns. Together they fixed the spoken canon. The Abhidhamma (philosophical) collection was added only later.

Second Council — Vaishali, 383 BCE

A century later, around 383 BCE (some sources say 386 BCE), the Second Council met at Vaishali in modern Bihar, under King Kalashoka (also called Kakavarnin) of the Shishunaga dynasty. The trigger was a dispute about ten lax practices — the so-called "ten points" (dasavatthuni) — that some monks of Vaishali, the Vajjiputtaka monks, were allowing themselves. These included accepting gold and silver, eating after noon and using rugs of improper size.

The senior monks ruled the ten practices unlawful. The Vajjiputtakas refused to accept the ruling and walked out. This created the first schism (Sangha-bheda) in the Buddhist order, splitting it into two groups: the Sthaviravadins (Theravadins — the elders, orthodox) and the Mahasanghikas (the great community, more liberal). The split was sociological as much as doctrinal — Mahasanghikas allowed more lay participation and a less austere monastic life — and it eventually fed into the much later Hinayana-Mahayana divide.

Third Council — Pataliputra, c. 250 BCE

The Third Council was convened around 250 BCE at Pataliputra (modern Patna) under Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa. By this time, Buddhism had spread widely under Ashoka's patronage but had also attracted many "false monks" who joined the Sangha for state support rather than spiritual practice. The Council expelled them, settled doctrinal disputes within the Sthaviravadin tradition and produced the Abhidhamma Pitaka, completing the Tripitaka.

The most enduring legacy of the Third Council was the dispatch of Buddhist missionaries. Ashoka sent his own children — Mahindra (Mahinda) to Sri Lanka and his daughter Sanghamitra (Sanghamitta) — to establish the Sangha there. Other missions went to Gandhara, the Hellenistic west, central Asia and Burma. Within a generation Buddhism had become a continent-spanning religion.

Fourth Council — Kundalvana (Kashmir), c. 72 CE

The Fourth Council was held around the 1st century CE (commonly cited as 72 CE) at Kundalvana in Kashmir, under the Kushan emperor Kanishka I, presided over by Vasumitra, with Ashvaghosha as deputy. The location is significant — Kashmir was, at the time, a major intellectual and trading hub on the Silk Road.

The Fourth Council finalised the formal split of Buddhism into two major schools: the Hinayana ("smaller vehicle") and the Mahayana ("greater vehicle"). The Mahayana school emphasised the Bodhisattva ideal — postponing one's own nirvana to help all beings — and a more devotional, expansive theology that would later make Buddhism the dominant religion of east Asia. The Council also produced commentaries written in Sanskrit rather than Pali, marking a major linguistic shift. (Note: some Sri Lankan Theravada traditions recognise an earlier "Fourth Council" held in Sri Lanka under King Vattagamani in c. 25 BCE that wrote down the Pali Canon for the first time — UPSC follows the Kushan tradition unless specifically stated.)

Why it matters

Why it matters: Prelims questions on Buddhist Councils come in two flavours — direct match-the-following (Council ↔ King ↔ President ↔ Outcome) and indirect statement-based (e.g., "The Third Buddhist Council was held during the reign of...") — and they have appeared in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020-era papers in slightly different forms. For Mains, the Councils anchor any answer on the spread of Buddhism, Ashokan patronage, the Hinayana-Mahayana split or Sangha history.

Real-world example: When you visit Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh, you are seeing physical evidence of the Third Council's outreach — Ashoka commissioned the original stupa and his missionary sons set out from Mauryan strongholds like these. When you visit Sarnath in UP, you walk where the First Council's mood was set — the very place the Buddha gave his first sermon. The councils were not abstract events; they reshaped the religious map of Asia.

Common misconception

Common misconception: A frequent error is to credit Ashoka with the First Council. Ashoka comes nearly two centuries later, at the Third Council. Another popular trap — students believe the Hinayana-Mahayana split happened at the Second Council. It did not. The Second Council produced the Sthaviravadin-Mahasanghika split, an organisational schism. The full doctrinal Hinayana-Mahayana divide is formalised at the Fourth Council under Kanishka, though it had been brewing for generations.

A third confusion — examiners sometimes ask which Pitaka was compiled at which council. Remember: First Council = Sutta + Vinaya (two pitakas). Third Council = Abhidhamma (the third pitaka). Together, the Tripitaka was complete only by 250 BCE.

Question: At which Buddhist Council was the Abhidhamma Pitaka compiled, and under whose patronage?
Solution:
Step 1: The First Council fixed Sutta and Vinaya; the Second produced a schism, not a new pitaka; the Fourth produced Sanskrit commentaries, not the original Abhidhamma.
Step 2: That leaves the Third Council, held under Ashoka, presided by Moggaliputta Tissa.
Conclusion: The Abhidhamma Pitaka was compiled at the Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra (c. 250 BCE) under Emperor Ashoka.

The pattern across four councils

If you stand back, a clear arc emerges. The First Council was about memory — locking in the Buddha's own words before they were lost. The Second was about discipline — what counts as proper monastic life. The Third was about purity and outreach — cleaning up the Sangha and exporting it. The Fourth was about theology — formalising the two great vehicles of Buddhism for a wider, more philosophical audience.

This is why the four-council sequence is not just an exam list — it is the skeleton of how a religion built itself out from a single teacher's words into a civilisational force across Asia.

Cover the answer, recall, then check. 12 cards on the must-know facts for UPSC Prelims.

Q1. Who was the first and the 23rd Tirthankara of Jainism, and who was the 24th?
A1. First: Rishabhanatha (Adinatha); 23rd: Parshvanatha; 24th (last): Mahavira (Vardhamana). Parshvanatha is considered historical.

Q2. Give Mahavira's dates, birthplace, and place of attaining Kaivalya and death.
A2. c. 540–468 BCE; born at Kundagrama (near Vaishali); attained Kevala Jnana at Jrimbhikagrama; died (nirvana) at Pavapuri.

Q3. State the Five Vows (Pancha Mahavrata) of Jainism.
A3. Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-stealing), Aparigraha (non-possession), Brahmacharya (celibacy — added by Mahavira to Parshva's four).

Q4. What are the "Three Jewels" (Triratna) of Jainism?
A4. Samyak Darshana (right faith), Samyak Jnana (right knowledge), Samyak Charitra (right conduct).

Q5. Which two Jain sects emerged, and over what issue, and who led each?
A5. Digambara (sky-clad, led by Bhadrabahu) and Svetambara (white-clad, led by Sthulabhadra) — split over nudity/clothing during the c. 300 BCE famine migration.

Q6. Give the Buddha's personal name, clan, and the traditional dates.
A6. Siddhartha Gautama, of the Shakya clan; c. 563–483 BCE (Theravada tradition).

Q7. Name the sites of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, first sermon, and death.
A7. Birth: Lumbini; Enlightenment (Bodhi): Bodh Gaya; First Sermon (Dharmachakra-pravartana): Sarnath; Death (Mahaparinirvana): Kushinagar.

Q8. State the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
A8. Dukkha (suffering exists), Samudaya (cause is craving/tanha), Nirodha (cessation is possible), Magga (the Eightfold Path leads to it).

Q9. What are the "Three Jewels" (Triratna) of Buddhism and the Tripitakas?
A9. Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. Tripitakas (in Pali): Vinaya (discipline), Sutta (teachings), Abhidhamma (philosophy).

Q10. List the Four Buddhist Councils with location and royal patron.
A10. 1st: Rajagriha (Ajatashatru); 2nd: Vaishali (Kalashoka); 3rd: Pataliputra (Ashoka); 4th: Kashmir (Kanishka) — where Mahayana crystallised.

Q11. Distinguish Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.
A11. Hinayana (Theravada): Pali, no idol worship, individual liberation. Mahayana: Sanskrit, Bodhisattva ideal, idol worship — spread to China/Japan.

Q12. Both religions rejected which two things, and in whose reigns did they flourish?
A12. Both rejected Vedic ritualism and the authority of the Vedas/Brahmin supremacy. Jainism flourished under Chandragupta Maurya & Kharavela; Buddhism under Ashoka & Kanishka.

Worked Example

Problem/Question: With reference to Jainism and Buddhism, consider the following statements:

1. Both denied the authority of the Vedas and were non-theistic in origin.
2. The Three Jewels (Triratna) of Jainism are Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct.
3. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are core to Buddhism.
   Which of the statements given above are correct?
   (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Solution/Model answer:

• Statement 1: Both Jainism and Buddhism arose as heterodox (nastika) systems that rejected Vedic ritual authority and did not centre on a creator-god. Correct.
• Statement 2: Jain Triratna = Samyak Darshana (Right Faith), Samyak Jnana (Right Knowledge), Samyak Charitra (Right Conduct). Correct.
• Statement 3: The Four Noble Truths (dukkha, its cause, its cessation, the path) and the Eightfold Path are foundational Buddhist doctrines. Correct.
  Do not confuse the Jain Triratna with the Buddhist "Three Jewels" (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha) — the question correctly attributes Right Faith/Knowledge/Conduct to Jainism. All three statements hold, so eliminate every option that omits one.

Answer/Takeaway: (d) 1, 2 and 3.