The iconic bronze figurine known as the “Dancing Girl” of Mohenjo-daro has sparked debate after its image in NCERT’s new Class 9 arts textbook appeared visually altered, with the sculpture’s bare torso covered, raising questions about how one of India’s most recognisable archaeological artefacts is being presented to students.
The image features in the opening chapter, History of Arts, of Madhurima, NCERT’s newly introduced Class 9 arts education textbook.
Compared to photographs of the original artefact, the version in the textbook appears modified, with shading across the upper body obscuring anatomical details visible in the bronze sculpture.
The depiction contrasts with the image used in NCERT’s Class 6 Social Science textbook, where the figurine appears closer to its original form.
Michel Danino, who headed the textbook development committee for NCERT’s new Class 6 Social Science books, said he had earlier been told that the figurine was considered unsuitable for younger students.
“This refers to our Grade 6 Social Science textbook. The reason I was given was that the image of the Dancing Girl was not age-appropriate,” Danino told PTI. “Our team disagreed; we even checked with teachers of class 6, and they told us there was never a problem with the Dancing Girl,” he said.
Danino slammed the reasoning behind the move, saying, “The notion that nudity is inappropriate is, in my opinion, an obsolete Victorian view. Yet we speak of decolonising Indian education.”
Reacting to the altered image in the Class 9 textbook, Danino said his first response was disbelief.
“If the Dancing Girl cannot figure as she is, and with proper dimensions, in a chapter on Indian art, then we have a serious problem,” he said.
He further argued that the modification distorts the historical object.
“The modification misrepresents the original artefact just as the Church's addition of a fig leaf to Michelangelo's statue of David in the Middle Ages misrepresented that beautiful work of art,” he said.
Speaking about the figurine’s cultural significance, Danino said scholars continue to debate its meaning, though similar akimbo postures discovered on potsherds from the Harappan site of Bhirrana in Rajasthan suggest it may have held “a precise cultural value, probably an artistic one.”
He also criticised alterations to historical artefacts in educational material.
“Unless this is clearly done to indicate the possible reconstruction of a partial artefact, altering such an image amounts to creating a fake artefact. It points to a serious lack of understanding of how historical artefacts are to be pictured,” Danino said.
The chapter identifies the Dancing Girl as a bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro dating to around 2600 BCE. It states that the sculpture was made using the “lost-wax technique prevalent in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.”
“This sculpture depicts a posture with one knee bent, one hand on the waist and a slightly lifted chin,” the textbook says.
The chapter also includes discussion prompts inviting students to interpret the figurine’s pose and activities asking them to recreate and sketch the posture.
Discovered at Mohenjo-daro, the Dancing Girl remains one of the most celebrated artefacts of the Indus Valley Civilisation. NCERT has not publicly commented on the variation in the representation of the figurine in the two textbooks.
(With inputs from PTI)