The Sermon at Benares is the 10th Chapter from the Book First Flight Class 10th. This is one of the chapters from the Class X English Core that is dealing with Buddhist Wisdom and an ideology that can keep a person away from sorrow. In this article, we will analyze this chapter from Board Examination point of view.
Source of this chapter is Betty Renshaw, Values and Voices: A College Reader (1975). This short story depicts the pain of a mother who had lost his only son and how she found solace through the wisdom and sermon of Lord Buddha.
Theme
This short story discusses about the unfortunate woman Kisa Gotami. She had lost his only child. She is carrying her dead child here and there. She was begging for his life. How Buddha recovered the lady from grief and immense pain of death of her only child through wisdom is the main theme of this chapter.
Question asked in Board Examinations
- When was Siddhartha Gautama born? [B-2017, B-2020]
- At what age Gautama leave home for enlightenment? [C-2017]
- How did Kisa Gotami come to realize the fact that death if the common end of life? [A-2018]
- Who was Gautama Buddha? [C-2018, B-2020]
- Why did Kisa Gotami go to Buddha? What did the Buddha Said to her and why? [A-2019]
- Who was Gautama Buddha and where he was born? [A-2019]
- Why did the Buddha Choose Benares to preach his first sermon? [D-2019, B-2020]
Analysis
Following is the analysis of this chapter –
- In previous 4 years, there are 10 questions that came in the board examinations & only 3 questions were repeated in previous 4 years.
- If we closely analyze, we will find that question 1, 4 & 7 were repeated and these questions are of short answer type format? Hence student must prepare these questions in an objective approach.
- Student must learn about life of Gautama Buddha i.e. his life period was from 563 BC to 483 BC and he was a royal prince. He left the home at the age of 25 to seek enlightenment [Ans. of Question 2] and after wandering here and there and doing meditation under the Bodhi Tree for 7 years, he attained enlightenment. His name Buddha means the awakened one.
- If we really want to understand this chapter and its core message, each student must read the last two paragraph from the original text of the chapter no. 10 Flamingo Class X. These paragraphs will starts from “of those who overcome” and will end at “and be blessed”.
In last 4 years, comprehension from this chapter came in 2017, 2019 and 2020. One thing must be understood that part of comprehension deals with the part of Kisa Gotami grief and life of Gautama Buddha.
Comprehension Part
Gautama Buddha begin life as …………………………………………….. he had witnessed. [D-2017] Major synonym were asked for the word Pious and the word Religious Books which means Sacred and Scriptures from the text.
Poor Kisa Gotami now went ………………………………………………… surrendered all selfishness. [B-2019] No major synonym was asked from this piece of comprehension.
He wandered for seven years ………………………………………………………………………….. on the river Ganges. [A-2020] Major synonym was asked for the word Took a pledge which means Vowed from the text.
Following is the text taken by NCERT First Flight for Class X and analysis is carried out on the basis of Board of School Education, Haryana previous year question papers. Read the Text of the chapter for enhancing reading and speaking skills.