NCERT modifies Class 9 textbook image of 'Dancing Girl'; representation raises questions

New Delhi: The iconic bronze figurine popularly known as the "Dancing Girl" of Mohenjo-daro has its bare torso covered in the latest NCERT arts textbook for class 9, drawing attention to the way one of India's most recognisable archaeological artefacts is being presented to students. The image appears 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 altered image, 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.

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'Misrepresents the original artefact': Danino

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 new Class 9 arts 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.

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.

He, however, 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 the 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.

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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 best-known artefacts associated with the Indus Valley Civilisation. NCERT has not publicly commented on the variation in the representation of the figurine in the two textbooks.