The construction of the Taj Mahal was completed between the period
2013
The construction of the Taj Mahal was completed between the period
Answer: C. 1632 – 1643 A.D. — Concept. A passage-based date-span question is settled only by the chronology the passage itself fixes. The method is to find two explicit markers — the…
- A.
1632 – 1636 A.D.
- B.
1630 – 1643 A.D.
- C.
1632 – 1643 A.D.
- D.
1636 – 1643 A.D.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept. A passage-based date-span question is settled only by the chronology the passage itself fixes. The method is to find two explicit markers — the sentence that dates the start of the activity named in the question, and the sentence that dates its completion — and then to read the span that lies between those two markers. A date that records partial progress, and a date that belongs to an event outside the activity, never define the span.
Application to this passage.
The activity named in the question is the construction of the Taj Mahal, that is, the mausoleum together with its complex.
Start marker: the passage states that "Work on the mausoleum was commenced early in 1632." This fixes the opening year of the span at 1632.
Progress marker: the passage then states that "Inscriptional evidence indicates much of the tomb was completed by 1636." The words "much of the tomb" report how far the work had reached on the tomb alone, so 1636 measures progress and not completion.
Completion marker: the passage closes with "By 1643, when Shah Jahan most lavishly celebrated the ‘Urs ceremony for Mumtaz Mahal, the entire complex was virtually complete." This fixes the closing year of the span at 1643.
Reading the span between the start marker and the completion marker gives 1632 – 1643 A.D.
Cross-check against the other spans, by value.
Span | How it sits against the passage’s two markers |
|---|---|
1632 – 1636 A.D. | Closes on the progress marker: in 1636 only "much of the tomb" stood, and the wider complex was still unfinished. |
1630 – 1643 A.D. | Opens a year before the passage’s chronology begins: the earliest event it dates is the death of Mumtaz Mahal in 1631, and work began only in 1632. |
1636 – 1643 A.D. | Opens on the progress marker instead of on the commencement of work in 1632. |
An independent check inside the passage: imperial orders for stone masons and for marble from Makrana were "issued between 1632 and 1637", which confirms that the work was under way from 1632 onwards and not earlier.
Hence, on the evidence of the passage, the construction of the Taj Mahal was carried through over the period 1632 – 1643 A.D.