The Chitrasutra, a source book of Indian art and painting, is a chapter in the third Khanda of which fifth-century text?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Vishnudharmottara Purana
Option (1) Bhagavata Purana — Incorrect. The Bhagavata Purana is a text painted in sets of manuscript illustrations. It is not the text that holds the Chitrasutra.
Option (2) Vishnudharmottara Purana — Correct. The Chitrasutra is a chapter in the third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, a fifth century text.
Option (3) Kalpasutra — Incorrect. The Kalpasutra is a Jain canonical text on the lives of the 24 Tirthankaras.
Option (4) Sangrahini Sutra — Incorrect. The Sangrahini Sutra is a Jain cosmological text of the twelfth century.
Note: This topic was not named in the CUET 2026 syllabus, but it was part of the NCERT chapter. In 2025 and 2026, NTA also asked questions on topics in NCERT that the CUET syllabus did not name. So our mocks have questions from every part of the NCERT chapter, to give you enough practice. Read the whole chapter, not only the sub-topics named in the syllabus.
NCERT (2026-27): “The Manuscript Painting Tradition …The third Khanda of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, a fifth century text has a chapter Chitrasutra, which should be considered as a source book of Indian art in general and painting specifically. It talks about the art of image making called pratima lakshana, which are canons of painting. The Khanda also deals with the techniques, tools, material(s), surface (wall), perception, perspective and three-dimentionality of human figures.” |