CAT 2025 Slot 3 VARC Question & Solution
Passage
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Once a society accepts a secular mode of creativity, within which the creator replaces God, imaginative transactions assume a self-conscious form. The tribal imagination, on the other hand, is still to a large extent dreamlike and hallucinatory. It admits fusion between various planes of existence and levels of time in a natural and artless manner. In tribal stories, oceans fly in the sky as birds, mountains swim in water as fish, animals speak as humans and stars grow like plants. Spatial order and temporal sequence do not restrict the narrative. This is not to say that tribal creations have no conventions or rules, but simply that they admit the principle of association between emotion and the narrative motif. Thus stars, seas, mountains, trees, men and animals can be angry, sad or happy.
It might be said that tribal artists work more on the basis of their racial and sensory memory than on the basis of a cultivated imagination. In order to understand this distinction, we must understand the difference between imagination and memory. In the animate world, consciousness meets two immediate material realities: space and time. We put meaning into space by perceiving it in terms of images. The image-making faculty is a genetic gift to the human mind—this power of imagination helps us understand the space that envelops us. With regard to time, we make connections with the help of memory; one remembers being the same person today as one was yesterday.
The tribal mind has a more acute sense of time than the sense of space. Somewhere along the history of human civilization, tribal communities seem to have realized that domination over territorial space was not their lot. Thus, they seem to have turned almost obsessively to gaining domination over time. This urge is substantiated in their ritual of conversing with their dead ancestors: year after year, tribals in many parts of India worship terracotta or carved-wood objects representing their ancestors, aspiring to enter a trance in which they can converse with the dead. Over the centuries, an amazingly sharp memory has helped tribals classify material and natural objects into a highly complex system of knowledge. . .
One of the main characteristics of the tribal arts is their distinct manner of constructing space and imagery, which might be described as 'hallucinatory'. In both oral and visual forms of representation, tribal artists seem to interpret verbal or pictorial space as demarcated by an extremely flexible 'frame'. The boundaries between art and non-art become almost invisible. A tribal epic can begin its narration from a trivial everyday event; tribal paintings merge with living space as if the two were one and the same. And within the narrative itself, or within the painted imagery, there is no deliberate attempt to follow a sequence. The episodes retold
and the images created take on the apparently chaotic shapes of dreams. In a way, the syntax of language and the grammar of painting are the same, as if literature were painted words and painting were a song of images.
Question 1
Non-human living forms exhibit human emotions in tribal narratives because tribal narratives:
Solution:
Main Idea of the Passage
The passage explains that tribal imagination does not separate reality into rigid categories. Instead, it naturally blends:
- Different planes of existence
- Different levels of time
- Humans, animals, nature, and cosmic elements
It notes that tribal stories
“admit fusion between various planes of existence and levels of time in a natural and artless manner,”
and that
“stars, seas, mountains, trees, men and animals can be angry, sad or happy.”
This shows that emotions are not restricted to humans and can move freely across boundaries between beings.
Explanation of the Correct Answer
Why Option B Is Correct
Option B best explains why non-human forms are shown with human emotions because:
- Tribal imagination accepts fluid boundaries between:
- Humans and non-humans
- Nature and living beings
- Time and space
- Since these boundaries are not rigid, emotions can be shared across forms
- This directly explains why mountains, animals, or stars can feel anger, sadness, or joy
The attribution of emotions to non-human forms comes from this fusion of existence, not from symbolism or metaphor alone.
Why the Other Options Are Incorrect
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Option A:
- Claims tribal imagination is self-conscious
- The passage explicitly contrasts tribal imagination with secular creativity, which is described as self-conscious
- Tribal storytelling is described as natural and artless, not self-aware
-
Option C:
- Suggests tribal art lacks conventions or rules
- The passage clearly states that tribal creations do have conventions and rules
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Option D:
- Implies tribal art is undeveloped
- The author never says this
- Instead, tribal imagination is shown as different, not inferior
Final Answer
Correct Answer: Option B
Question 2
On the basis of the passage, which one of the following explains the main difference between imagination and memory?
Solution:
Main Idea of the Passage
The passage explains the difference between imagination and memory by linking each to how humans relate to space and time:
- Humans “put meaning into space” by forming images — this ability is imagination
- Humans understand time through memory, which allows us to connect moments and recognise ourselves as the same person across different points in time
In short, imagination structures our experience of space, while memory structures our experience of time.
Explanation of the Correct Answer
Why Option D Is Correct
Option D directly reflects the passage’s core distinction:
- It links imagination with making sense of space
- It links memory with making sense of time
- This mirrors the author’s explanation of how each faculty operates in human experience
Since this option captures the passage’s main conceptual contrast exactly, it is the correct answer.
Why the Other Options Are Incorrect
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Option A:
- Mentions imagination as a genetic gift, which is stated in the passage
- However, it adds that memory is central to consciousness, which the passage does not claim
-
Option B:
- Focuses on tribal art preferences
- The question concerns a general philosophical distinction, not artistic traditions
-
Option C:
- Claims imagination needs to be developed
- This contradicts the passage, which describes imagination as an innate (genetic) ability
Final Answer
Correct Answer: Option D
Question 3
Which one of the following best explains why tribals in India worship their dead ancestors?
Solution:
Main Idea of the Passage
The passage explains ancestor worship by linking it to how tribal communities relate to time rather than space. It states that:
- Tribals realised they could not dominate territorial space
- As a result, they “turned almost obsessively to gaining domination over time”
- This shift explains practices like communicating with dead ancestors through trance
Ancestor worship is thus presented not merely as reverence, but as a way to overcome temporal limits and assert control over time.
Explanation of the Correct Answer
Why Option A Is Correct
Option A correctly captures the passage’s reasoning because it:
- Explains ancestor worship as a means of controlling or mastering time
- Connects ritual communication with ancestors to the desire to transcend the present
- Directly reflects the author’s claim that tribal societies redirected their energies from space to time
This makes Option A the most accurate interpretation of the passage.
Why the Other Options Are Incorrect
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Option B:
- Describes how ancestors are worshipped
- Does not explain why ancestor worship exists in the first place
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Option C:
- Focuses on the effects of strong memory over time
- Fails to address the motivation behind ancestor worship
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Option D:
- Claims that tribals did not attempt to control land
- This contradicts the passage, which says they recognised they could not dominate space, prompting the turn toward time instead
Final Answer
Correct Answer: Option A
Question 4
All of the following, if true, would weaken the passage’s claims about the hallucinatory tribal imagination EXCEPT that:
Solution:
Main Idea of the Question
The question asks which option does NOT weaken the author’s argument about tribal imagination and art. The passage portrays tribal imagination as:
- Closely blended with everyday life
- Free from strict spatial or temporal order
- Hallucinatory in nature, unconstrained by rational or scientific logic
- Closely linked to rituals, trance, and engagement with time
Evaluation of the Options
Why Options (a), (b), and (c) Weaken the Passage
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Option (a):
- Claims tribal art excludes ordinary reality
- This contradicts the passage’s idea that tribal art often begins with trivial everyday events
- Removing everyday life would weaken the argument that imagination and daily reality are fused
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Option (b):
- Suggests a clear, linear timeline
- The passage explicitly says that “spatial order and temporal sequence do not restrict the narrative”
- A fixed timeline would undermine the dream-like, non-linear structure described
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Option (c):
- Implies tribal stories follow scientific or rational rules
- The passage stresses the opposite, using examples like oceans flying and mountains swimming
- Removing this irrationality would erase a core feature of tribal imagination
Why Option (d) Does NOT Weaken the Passage
Option (d) Supports the Argument
- Option (d) refers to shamanic rituals and communication with dead ancestors
- The passage explicitly mentions such rituals as evidence of:
- Engagement with time
- Trance-like, hallucinatory states
- Far from weakening the argument, this reinforces the author’s claims about tribal imagination