Previous Year Question

Statement (A) is correct. Guntupalli is an important early Buddhist centre in present-day Andhra Pradesh. Rock-cut chaityas and viharas have been found here. Its early circular chaitya was excavated from living rock and contained a stupa with an arrangement for circumambulation.

Guntupalli was not confined to rock-cut architecture. Structural chaityas, stupas and other constructions made of brick have also been found at the site. Thus, both rock-cut and structural forms of Buddhist architecture existed there. Statement (A) refers specifically to its early rock-cut chaityagrihas and viharas and is therefore correct.

Statement (B) became the subject of a dispute over the answer key. Rock-cut examples such as Guntupalli certainly occur in the Eastern Deccan, but sites such as Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda and other Andhra centres also possessed a strong tradition of structural Buddhist monuments constructed with brick and stone. This is why different examinations adopted different interpretations of this statement.

The important point is that UPPSC's final answer key accepted option (c), i.e. both statements as correct. Candidates subsequently challenged this question before the Allahabad High Court. They argued that only Statement (A) was correct, and an identical UGC-NET 2013 question had also treated that position as correct.

However, UPPSC retained option (c) on the recommendation of its expert committee. After reviewing the material placed before it, the Allahabad High Court held that the Commission's answer had not been demonstrated to be clearly erroneous and declined to interfere with UPPSC's answer (c).