Chapter 4 of Class 5 Arts Bansuri, Imaginary Beings, celebrates the power of artistic imagination by studying composite creatures in traditional Indian art — featured through Odisha’s famous Navagunjara (made of nine different beings) — and guiding students to invent their own composite being and its habitat.
What Class 5 Art Chapter 4 Covers
Navagunjara — Nine Beings in One Form (Activity 4.1) — Examines the traditional Pattachitra motif of Navagunjara, which combines parts of nine creatures: the head of a rooster, neck of a peacock, hump of a bull, waist of a lion, tail of a serpent, three legs of an elephant, tiger, and deer/horse, and a fourth human hand holding a lotus flower.
My Ideal Being — Combining Qualities (Activity 4.2) — Selects admirable traits from a person, an animal, and a plant to conceptualize a symbolic guardian or companion creature.
Creating My Imaginary Being (Activity 4.3) — Combines features, textures (feathers, scales, bark, petals, fur), and colours from multiple living things to draw or sculpt a brand-new imaginary creature.
The World of My Imaginary Being (Activity 4.4) — Designs the environment, home, food, and friends of the imaginary being to build a complete visual narrative around it.
Exercises in Chapter 4
- Activities 4.1 & 4.2 — Identifying Navagunjara’s 9 Parts & Trait Mapping: Observe the illustration of Navagunjara and fill in the names of all nine animal/human parts, then list favourite qualities from people, animals, and plants.
- Activities 4.3 & 4.4 — Drawing the Imaginary Being & Its World: Create a detailed artwork of your composite imaginary being and paint the world it lives in.
Read Class 5 Art Chapter 4 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 3: Picturing Stories
- Next: Chapter 5: Spreading the Message
- Hindi medium: Class 5 Arts Chapter 4 PDF in Hindi (Bansuri)
- All Art chapters and the other Class 5 books: Class 5 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
- Every book chapter by chapter: NCERT chapter wise PDF
FAQ
What is Navagunjara in Chapter 4 of Class 5 Bansuri?
Navagunjara is a famous composite mythical creature from Odia art (Pattachitra) and the Mahabharata tradition, composed of body parts from nine different living beings including a rooster, peacock, bull, lion, snake, elephant, tiger, deer/horse, and a human hand holding a lotus.
Why do artists create imaginary composite beings?
Artists combine parts of different animals, birds, plants, and humans to symbolise multiple strengths, virtues, and natural powers within a single visual form.