What does the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro — the 4,500-year-old bronze artefact on display at Delhi’s National Museum — denote? The refinement of the Harappan civilisation, of course; its sophisticated knowledge of metallurgy. But also, the NCERT now seems to insist, immodesty. The inaugural Class IX art education textbook features an image of the figurine with its bare torso covered with a sheath, ostensibly to make it age-appropriate. The Dancing Girl has featured in NCERT’s history textbooks for over 25 years before this. The move is remarkable not just for its prudishness but for what it reveals about pedagogical........

© Indian Express