Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Why kinfolk quarreled

This is an excerpt from the Adi Parvan (literally, the first section) of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, describing why conflicts arose amongst the Kauravas and Pandavas:

The Kauravas were the... sons of Dhritarashtra, and the Pandavas ... were their cousins. Since Dhritarashtra was blind, his younger brother Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinapura...

However, after the premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra became king, as the royal princes were still very young. As the princes grew up together, the citizens of Hastinapura began to express their preference for the Pandavas, for they were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas. This made Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, jealous. He approached his

father and said, 'You yourself did not receive the throne, although it fell to you, because of your defect. If the Pandava receives the patrimony from Pandu, his son will surely inherit it in turn, and so will his son, and his. We ourselves with our sons shall be excluded from the royal succession and become of slight regard in the eyes of the world, lord of the earth!'

Passages such as these may not have been literally true, but they give us an idea about what those who wrote the text thought. Sometimes, as in this case, they contain conflicting ideas.

(1) Why did the citizens of Hastinapura express preference for Pandavas?

(2) Explain the reactions of Duryodhana against Pandavas.

(3) Explain the criteria of patrilineal succession.

OR

Fatalists and materialists

Here is an excerpt from the Sutta Pitaka, describing a conversation between king Ajatasatru, the ruler of Magadha, and the Buddha:

On one occasion King Ajatasatru visited the Buddha and described what another teacher, named Makkhali Gosala, had told him:

'Though the wise should hope, by this virtue... by this penance I will gain karma... and the fool should by the same means hope to gradually rid himself of his karma, neither of them can do it. Pleasure and pain, measured out as it were, cannot be altered in the course of samsara (transmigration). It can neither be lessened nor increased... just as a ball of string will when thrown unwind to its full length, so fool and wise alike will take their course and make an end of sorrow.'

And this is what a philosopher named Ajita Kesakambalin taught:

'There is no such thing, O king, as alms or sacrifice, or offerings. ... there is no such thing as this world or the next...

 A human being is made up of the four elements. When he dies the earthy in him returns to the earth, the fluid to water, the heat to fire, the windy to air, and his senses pass into space... 

The talk of gifts is. a doctrine of fools, an empty lie... fools and wise alike are cut off and perish. They do not survive after death.'

The first teacher belonged to the tradition of the Ajivikas. They have often been described as fatalists: those who believe that everything is predetermined. The second teacher belonged to the tradition of the Lokayatas, usually described as materialists. Texts from these traditions have not survived, so we know about them only from the works of other traditions.

(1) Explain what had Makkhali Gosala told the King Ajatasatru.

(2) Explain what did the philosopher named Ajita Kesakambalin teach.

(3) Describe the beliefs of fatalists.