NCERT drops ‘clothed’ Dancing Girl image after backlash

NCERT has decided to restore the original image of the iconic Mohenjo-daro ‘Dancing Girl’ in its Class 9 Arts textbook, replacing the modified version that had triggered criticism over its “clothed” depiction. The move comes after a debate over the representation of historical artefacts in school textbooks

New Delhi: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will replace the modified image of the iconic ‘Dancing Girl’ figurine of Mohenjo-daro in its Class 9 Arts textbook with the original version, following criticism over the ‘clothed’ depiction of the artefact.

The move comes as a debate erupted over the representation of one of the most recognisable archaeological artefacts from the Indus Valley Civilisation in school textbooks.

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Asked by PTI whether the NCERT will replace the retouched image of the ‘Dancing Girl’ in the Class 9 Arts textbook with the original version, its Director Dinesh Saklani replied in the affirmative.

The bronze figurine — “Dancing Girl” of Mohenjo-daro — was depicted with its bare torso covered in the opening chapter, ‘History of Arts’, of Madhurima, NCERT’s new Class 9 Arts education textbook.

In the version carried in the textbook, the torso of the figurine appears visually altered compared to the photographs of the original artefact, with shading used across the upper body that obscures anatomical details visible in the sculpture.

Unlike the image used in the new Class 9 arts textbook, the “Dancing Girl” in NCERT’s Class 6 Social Science textbook appears in a form closer to the original bronze sculpture.

Michel Danino, who headed the textbook development committee for NCERT’s new Class 6 Social Science books, said he had been told that the Dancing Girl figurine was considered “not age-appropriate”.

“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 said, “The notion that nudity is inappropriate is, in my opinion, an obsolete Victorian view. Yet we speak of decolonising Indian education.” Reacting to the image used in the Class 9 textbook, Danino said his first response was of “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.

Danino said the modification “misrepresents the original artefact”.

“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.

On the significance of the figurine, Danino said archaeologists have offered differing interpretations and that little is known about its context. However, he noted that the same akimbo posture had been found on at least two potsherds from the Harappan site of Bhirrana in Rajasthan, suggesting that it held “a precise cultural value, probably an artistic one”.

He also criticised any alteration of images of historical artefacts.

“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.

The textbook states that the bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro 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,” it added.

The chapter includes a discussion prompt asking students what they think is portrayed by the figure’s pose. Another activity asks students to mimic the posture and sketch the pose while imagining various positions of the feet.

The Dancing Girl, discovered at Mohenjo-daro, is among the most well-known artefacts associated with the Indus Valley Civilisation.