Consider the following foreign travellers and arrange them in ascending chronological order:1.I-Tsing2.Al-Biruni3.Huentsang (Hiuen Tsang)4.Fahyan (Fa-Hien)Select the correct answer from the codes given below:

1. A

   1, 2, 3, 4

   1, 2, 3, 4. Places I-Tsing first, which is incorrect since Fa-Hien visited India much earlier in the fifth century.

2. B

   4, 3, 1, 2

   4, 3, 1, 2. Fa-Hien visited during 399–414 CE, Hiuen Tsang during 630–645 CE, I-Tsing in the late 7th century (671–695 CE), and Al-Biruni arrived in the 11th century with Mahmud of Ghazni. This chronological sequence from earliest to latest correctly matches the historical timeline of these foreign travellers.

3. C

   2, 1, 4, 3

   2, 1, 4, 3. Starts with Al-Biruni, who came in the eleventh century, thereby reversing the entire chronological order.

4. D

   3, 4, 2, 1

   3, 4, 2, 1. Begins with Hiuen Tsang, who arrived in the seventh century, thus failing to place Fa-Hien at the very beginning of the sequence.

Summary. Official key is (b) 4, 3, 1, 2. Arranging the travellers chronologically requires identifying their respective centuries of visit to India. Fa-Hien came first around 400 CE, followed by Hiuen Tsang in the seventh century, I-Tsing in the late seventh century, and Al-Biruni in the eleventh century. A common mix-up involves confusing the seventh-century pilgrim Hiuen Tsang with the earlier fifth-century pilgrim Fa-Hien. Option (b) successfully places all four travellers in the exact ascending order of their arrival.