UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 30 of 100
UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Bijak Pushti Marg
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2014
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicIndian Culture
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
Consider the following statements:
1. 'Bijak' is a composition of the teachings of Saint Dadu Dayal.
2. The Philosophy of Pushti Marg was propounded by Madhvacharya.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: D. Neither 1 nor 2
Verdict
The answer is neither 1 nor 2. Bijak records the teachings of Kabir, not Dadu Dayal, and Pushti Marg was propounded by Vallabhacharya, not Madhvacharya.
Analysis
Statement 1 is INCORRECT. The Bijak is the compilation in which Kabir's verses were preserved. Dadu Dayal was a separate Bhakti saint of Rajasthan whose followers formed the Dadu Panth. Statement 2 is INCORRECT. Pushti Marg, the path of grace, is the Vaishnava school founded by Vallabhacharya. Madhvacharya founded Dvaita, the dualist Vedanta school, in Karnataka several centuries earlier and belongs to a different lineage altogether.
Source
NIOS material on religion and philosophy in medieval India, page 136, and NCERT Class VII Our Pasts II, page 116.
How to crack it
Both errors are of the same type, a real text or doctrine attached to the wrong teacher, which is the standard Bhakti movement trap. Build one table with three columns, saint, text and doctrine, and populate it for the dozen names UPSC actually uses: Kabir with Bijak, Vallabhacharya with Pushti Marg, Madhvacharya with Dvaita, Ramanuja with Vishishtadvaita, Shankara with Advaita. When both statements swap names, neither 1 nor 2 becomes very likely.