SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 3 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Consider the following statements about Mughal architecture: 1.Mughal architecture is known for blending Persian, Islamic, Turkish, and Indian styles to create a unique Indo-Islamic aesthetic. 2.Red sandstone and white marble were the two most commonly used materials in Mughal construction.

(a)Only 1 is correct
(b)Only 2 is correct
(c)Both 1 and 2 are correct
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 is correct

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Statement 1 matches NCERT's Class XI text An Introduction to Indian Art: despite the obvious Saracenic, Persian and Turkish influences, it says, Indo-Islamic buildings were heavily shaped by Indian architectural and decorative forms.

Statement 2 matches the landmark buildings. At the Taj Mahal, NCERT notes, the white Makrana marble tomb is contrasted with the red sandstone of the surrounding structures. Both hold: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only 1 is correct — This rejects statement 2, but red sandstone and white marble are the pairing NCERT itself describes at the Taj Mahal, where the marble tomb stands against red sandstone structures.
(b)
Only 2 is correct — This rejects statement 1, yet NCERT describes Indo-Islamic buildings as carrying Saracenic, Persian and Turkish influences while heavily shaped by Indian forms: the blend the statement names.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 is correct — Both statements track NCERT's account, the blend of influences in statement 1 and the sandstone-marble pairing in statement 2, so rejecting both leaves nothing standing.

Concept

NCERT sorts Indo-Islamic architecture into the Imperial (Delhi Sultanate), Provincial, Mughal (Delhi, Agra and Lahore) and Deccani styles.

Its Taj Mahal passage shows the Mughal palette at its peak: a monumental red sandstone gateway, a white marble-faced tomb, and a red sandstone mosque to its west, balanced by a similar building to the east.

Statement 2's "two most commonly used" is a generalisation. NCERT's list of building stones is wider (quartzite, sandstone, buff and marble), walls were largely of rubble masonry, and bricks came into use from the early 17th century. The key accepts the generalisation.

Key facts

NCERT notes obvious Saracenic, Persian and Turkish influences on Indo-Islamic buildings, which were heavily influenced by Indian architectural and decorative forms.
The Taj Mahal's marble was quarried from the Makrana mines in Rajasthan.
The Taj complex is entered through a monumental red sandstone gateway.
NCERT's conventional styles of Indo-Islamic architecture are Imperial, Provincial, Mughal and Deccani.

Study next

Pietra dura, the double dome and the charbagh gardenThe Imperial style of the Delhi Sultanate and the Deccani style of BijapurHumayun's Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri and the Red Fort

Common traps

Rejecting statement 2 over the words most commonly, when the key treats it as a fair generalisation.
Reading Indo-Islamic as purely imported, when NCERT stresses the Indian forms in the blend.

Here two broad statements are judged together. Mughal architecture also appears at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.4, which asks who popularised pietra dura and the double dome (keyed Shah Jahan), and at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.2, which orders Agra Fort, Jahangir Mahal and the Red Fort by completion.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 154 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.