The Sermon at Benares: visual lesson, CBSE Class 10 English Language and Literature

Lesson

The Sermon at Benares — Betty Renshaw

First Flight, prose · the Buddha's life and teaching · Class 10 CBSE English.

Read the chapter itself in your textbook, First Flight (NCERT). This lesson is SOYL's explanation and analysis; it does not reproduce the text.

In this lesson you will

CBSE 2026-27, Section C (literature).
In the board paper	Question form	Marks
Reference to context	an extract with short questions (answer A or B)	5
Short answer (First Flight)	40–50 words	3 each
Long answer	100–120 words: character, theme, diary, letter or opinion	6

Concept

Read the chapter once in First Flight, straight through.
Use these slides for the two stories (the Buddha's path; Kisa Gotami's search) and the teaching.
Explain the teaching in your own words; do not memorise the sermon's sentences.
Practise the extract questions, which use SOYL commentary on the chapter.

Concept

Table of facts: the chapter is credited to Betty Renshaw; it is a prose retelling of the Buddha's life followed by a teaching story; the main figures are the Buddha and Kisa Gotami; it is set in ancient northern India with the sermon at Benares on the Ganga; the style is formal and old-fashioned.
About the chapter
Author	Betty Renshaw (as credited in First Flight)
Genre	prose retelling: a short life of the Buddha followed by a teaching story
Main figures	Gautama Buddha; Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother
Setting	ancient northern India; the sermon at Benares, on the Ganga
Style	formal and old-fashioned, with older forms of address in the dialogue