UPSC Important Topics

∆JAINA LITERATURE. {PART – 2} ✓The non-canonical Jaina works are partly in Prakrit dialects, especially Maharashtri, and partly in Sanskrit, which started being used in the early centuries CE. ✓Commentaries on the canonical works include the Nijjuttis (Niryuktis), Bhashyas, and Churnis in Maharashtri and Prakrit; the early medieval Tikas, Vrittis, and Avachurnis are in Sanskrit. […]

JAINA LITERATURE. [ PART 1 ] ✓The sacred books of the Jainas are collectively known as the Siddhanta or Agama. ✓The language of the earliest texts is an eastern dialect of Prakrit known as Ardha Magadhi. ✓The Jaina monastic order came to be divided into the Shvetambara and Digambara schools, perhaps in about the 3rd

∆BUDDHIST LITERATURE [PART -2] Non-canonical Buddhist literature. ✓ Non-canonical Buddhist literature in Pali includes the Milindapanha which consists of a dialogue on various philosophical issues between king  Milinda— the Indo-Greek Menander and the monk Nagasena. ✓The Nettigandha or Nettipakarana  belongs to the same period and gives a connected account of the teaching of the Buddha.

BUDDHIST LITERATURE. [PART 1] Canonical buddhist texts. ✓Canonical texts are the books which lay down the basic tenets and principles of a religion. ✓Various Buddhist schools classify their canonical literature in different ways, some into 9 or 12 Angas, others into 3 Pitakas. ✓ There are Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan versions of the Tipitaka. The

✓The project includes a waterways component of 158 km on Kaladan river from Sittwe to Paletwa in Myanmar and a road component of 109 km from Paletwa to Zorinpui on the India-Myanmar border . The waterways component comprises Sittwe Port,Inland Water Transport (IWT) terminals, backup facilities and navigational channel.  ✓Mooted in 2003, India entered a

Barbell Strategy: ✓The barbell strategy is an approach to uncertainty (risk) that uses two extremes – like weights on the opposite ends of a barbell – to avoid ruin and simultaneously expose yourself to a speculative upside. ✓On one end of the barbell is extreme risk aversion (safety). On the other end is extreme risk

Swiss challenge ✓Swiss Challenge method is one of the ways of awarding government contracts to private players. ✓Without an invitation from government, a private player can submit a proposal to government for development of an infrastructure project with exclusive intellectual property rights. Then government has two options with it: ✓Government can buy the intellectual property

ASHTAMUDI LAKE. ◇ Ashtamudi Lake or Ashtamudi Kayal , is in the Kollam District of Kerala. ◇ It possesses a unique wetland ecosystem and a large palm-shaped water body. ◇ Ashtamudi means ‘eight braids’ in the local Malayalam language. ◇ The name is indicative of the lake’s topography with its multiple branches. ◇ The lake

PUNCHED MARKED COINS 📍The oldest coins found in the subcontinent are punch-marked coins, made mostly of silver, some of copper. 📍Usually rectangular, sometimes square or round. These coins are often irregular in shape. 📍Blanks for making these coins were generally cut from a metal sheet. 📍The symbol or symbols were then hammered on these coins