A modified image of the iconic bronze figurine known as the 'Dancing Girl' of Mohenjo-daro has appeared in NCERT's new Class 9 textbook, sparking concerns about how one of India's most recognisable archaeological artefacts is being presented to students.
The bronze figurine, one of the most recognisable relics of the Indus Valley Civilisation, appears with its bare torso obscured in Madhurima, NCERT's new arts education textbook for Class 9. Shading has been added across the upper body, making it noticeably different from photographs of the original sculpture.
Historian Michel Danino questioned the reasoning behind such concerns, saying, “The notion that nudity is inappropriate is, in my opinion, an obsolete Victorian view. Yet we speak of decolonising Indian education.”
The chapter, titled History of Arts, identifies the Dancing Girl as a bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro dating to around 2600 BCE. It describes the sculpture as an example of the lost-wax casting technique, a method that the textbook notes is still practised in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
