NCERT to Restore Original Mohenjo-daro 'Dancing Girl' Image in Class 9 Textbook After Criticism

The National Council of Educational Research and Training will replace a modified image of the Mohenjo-daro "Dancing Girl" in its Class 9 Arts textbook with the original version. The council faced criticism over the retouched depiction, which shaded the artefact's torso to appear clothed.

NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani confirmed the decision to restore the original image, according to PTI. The altered illustration appeared in "History of Arts", the opening chapter of the new Class 9 textbook "Madhurima".

Unlike the Class 9 version, the "Dancing Girl" image in the NCERT's Class 6 Social Science textbook remains closer to the original bronze sculpture. The controversy highlighted a debate over the accurate representation of Indus Valley Civilisation artefacts in Indian school curricula.

Obsolete Victorian Views

Michel Danino, head of the textbook development committee for the Class 6 Social Science books, said officials initially objected to the artefact. "The reason I was given was that the image of the Dancing Girl was not 'age-appropriate'," Danino said.

"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 rejected the censorship entirely. "The notion that nudity is inappropriate is, in my opinion, an obsolete Victorian view. Yet we speak of decolonising Indian education," he said.

He expressed disbelief over the Class 9 textbook's altered image. "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," Danino said.

He strongly condemned the historical distortion. "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.

"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.

Artistic and Historical Context

The Class 9 textbook identifies the figurine as a bronze sculpture from Mohenjo-daro dating to around 2600 BCE. The text said artisans made the piece using the lost-wax technique prevalent in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.

The chapter describes the posture as featuring one knee bent, one hand on the waist, and a slightly lifted chin. The chapter includes a discussion prompt asking students what they think is portrayed by the figure's pose. It also includes student activities that ask readers to mimic and sketch the pose while imagining various positions of the feet.

Archaeologists continue to debate the exact significance of the figurine, but its pose appears across multiple discoveries. Danino said researchers found the same akimbo posture on at least two potsherds from the Harappan site of Bhirrana in Rajasthan. This indicates the pose held a precise cultural value, probably an artistic one, he said.