[2] The Chitrasutra section of the Vishnudharmottara Purana has been discovered in manuscripts all over India and Nepal in Devanagari, Sharada, Bengali, and Newari scripts.
It includes mythology and dharma legends, has sections on cosmology, cosmogony, geography, astronomy, astrology, division of time, genealogies (mostly of kings and sages), manners and customs, charity, penances, law and politics, war strategies, medicines and their preparation for human beings and animals, cuisine, grammar, metrics, lexicography, metrics, rhetoric, dramaturgy, dance, vocal and instrumental music, and arts.
It "proclaims the joy that colours and forms and the representation of things seen and imagined produce".
[5] This aphoristic treatise on painting has attracted much bhasya (commentary) literature in Hinduism over the centuries.
All or parts of this treatise has been translated in English by Stella Kramrisch, C Sivaramamurti, Parul Mukherji, and Isabella Nardeli.