NCERT’s new Art textbook covers up Mohenjodaro’s ‘Dancing Girl’

The depiction is significant because the “Dancing Girl” has appeared in NCERT textbooks for at least 25 years, including during the NDA government when Murli Manohar Joshi was in charge of Education as Minister of the then Human Resource Development ministry. A review by this newspaper of earlier editions shows that while the figurine has long featured in school textbooks, its torso had never previously been covered.

The retouched image appears in a textbook that is part of NCERT’s first-ever arts education series, introduced from Classes 1 to 10 under the National Education Policy (NEP) and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) to integrate arts into mainstream education. Textbooks from Classes 1 to 9 have been released so far.

The approximately four-inch-high “Dancing Girl”, discovered at Mohenjo-daro, depicts a young girl with her hair tied in a bun, adorned with bangles, a bracelet and a necklace. Her confident posture and the sophistication of her craftsmanship have made her one of the defining symbols of the Harappan civilisation.

Archaeologists have long viewed the figurine as evidence of the civilisation’s advanced metallurgical knowledge. The original is housed in the National Museum in New Delhi.

In an interview with The Indian Express published on May 27, historian Michel Danino, who headed the textbook development committee for NCERT’s new Class 6 Social Science books, had disclosed that the NCERT objected to placing the “Dancing Girl” on the opening page of a chapter on Indus Valley Civilisation because the figurine was nude and could become “controversial”.

Archaeologists have long viewed the figurine as evidence of the civilisation’s advanced metallurgical knowledge. The original is housed in the National Museum in New Delhi.

“I even told NCERT that if the Dancing Girl is not age-appropriate, then perhaps children of that age should not be allowed into the National Museum either because the figurine is displayed there,” Danino had said. While he initially resisted the suggestion, he eventually agreed to move the image from the chapter opener to an inside page and reduce its size. The image, however, was retained in the textbook.

Asked whether the masking of the torso was linked to concerns over nudity, NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani told The Indian Express: “No, I don’t think there is any specific reason. In Grade 6 SST (Social Science Textbook), the Dancing Girl is very much there along with many other findings related to Harappan civilisation as it is one of them. For art textbooks you may also contact the related TDT (Textbook Development Team) members.”

Sandhya Purecha, chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and head of the textbook development team for Arts Education, was unavailable for comment.

Commenting on the image used in the Class 9 textbook, Danino said the depiction was “wrong and unfair to the student” and that “the shading of the figure’s whole trunk is an act of censorship”.

“This picture of the Dancing Girl is unfair to the student. First, it is so tiny that nothing of this remarkable figurine’s facial expression or ornaments can be made out. Second, the shading of her trunk is an act of censorship; unless we wish to return to Victorian morality, such prudishness is misplaced — should students, then, be barred from entering the National Museum, where the original figurine is housed, not to speak of many semi-nude or nude statues of goddesses, apsaras, etc.? Third, this manipulation of the image amounts to creating a fake artefact which exists nowhere. That is just not done,” Danino told The Indian Express.

Danino is no longer part of NCERT’s textbook development committee for Social Science, having stepped down following the controversy over references to corruption and judicial delays in the revised Class 8 Social Science textbook.