Today, we consider Ashoka as a great ruler because of the copious evidence he left behind in the form of stone carved edicts. Historians tend to correlate greatness of a king at his time with the availability of evidence today. Which of the following can be logically inferred from the above sentences? A. Emperors who do not leave significant sculpted evidence are completely forgotten. B. Ashoka produced stone carved edicts to ensure that later historians will respect him. C. Statues of kings are good for their memory and the preservation of their history. D. A king's greatness, as we know him today, is interpreted by historians.

GATE 2016 · General Aptitude · Passage Reading · medium

Answer: D. A king's greatness, as we know him today, is interpreted by historians.

1. Extract the core logical structure of the passage: Premise 1: We consider Ashoka great because of his evidence. Premise 2: Historians correlate greatness with available evidence. Combined conclusion: Our current understanding of a king's greatness is constructed by historians based on evidence they find.
2. Evaluate each option against the logical chain: A: 'completely forgotten' — the passage says greatness correlates with evidence, not that rulers disappear entirely; too strong. B: Ashoka's intent to impress historians — pure speculation, nowhere in the passage. C: Statues and memory — the passage mentions carved edicts, not statues; also the claim is an unsupported leap. D: 'A king's greatness, as we know him today, is interpreted by historians' — directly follows from premise 2; the passage explicitly states historians correlate greatness with evidence, meaning historical greatness is their interpretation.