‘Correction is being implemented immediately’: NCERT moves to restore original Dancing Girl image after criticism

Facing criticism over the depiction of one of the Harappan civilisation’s most recognisable artefacts, NCERT has decided to restore the original image of the famous “Dancing Girl” statuette in its newly introduced Class 9 art textbook Madhurima. The correction will be made immediately in the digital edition, while future print versions will carry the revised image.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) announced the decision on June 15 after concerns were raised about the way the bronze figurine had been illustrated in the textbook.

Confirming the move, NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani said the matter was reviewed after it came to the organisation’s notice.

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“As soon as the issue came to notice, the concerned department was directed to look into the matter. Following consultations with experts, the department is replacing the image of the Dancing Girl with its original version. The correction is being implemented immediately in the digital version of the textbook, while the revised print editions will carry the original version of the image,” Saklani told ANI.

The controversy centred on an illustration of the bronze figurine featured in Chapter 1, History of Art. Critics argued that the image differed from the original artefact, pointing to dark shading below the shoulders that obscured parts of the figure. Historians, educators and social media users said the alteration created the impression that the statuette had been clothed.

The textbook presents the Dancing Girl as an example of the lost-wax casting technique, a traditional method of metalworking that is still practised in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Before announcing the correction, NCERT had referred the matter to the concerned department for review. The issue drew further attention because the same artefact appears in its original form in the Class 6 Social Science textbook The Beginning of Indian Civilization.

The difference in how the artefact was presented across the two textbooks led academics and education observers to question why the modification had been made only in the Class 9 art textbook.

The Dancing Girl is among the most celebrated discoveries from the Sindhu-Saraswati Civilisation. Unearthed in 1926 at Mohenjo-daro, in present-day Pakistan, the bronze statuette stands around 10.5 centimetres tall and is estimated to be about 4,500 years old.

Historians regard the figurine as one of the civilisation’s most important artefacts and a striking example of the advanced craftsmanship and artistic traditions of the Harappan people.

With NCERT now restoring the original image, the debate surrounding the representation of the artefact in school textbooks is likely to draw to a close, at least for the current edition of the Class 9 art textbook.