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{{Short description|Indus Valley Civilisation bronze sculpture}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name = Dancing Girl
| image = Dancing girl of Mohenjo-daro.jpg
| material = [[Bronze]]
| created = {{circa|2000 BC}}
| discovered_place = [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]]
| discovered_date = 1926
| location = [[National Museum of India|National Museum]], [[New Delhi]], [[India]]
| height = 10.5 cm
}}

The '''Dancing Girl''' is a [[bronze sculpture]] made in [[lost-wax casting]] around {{Circa|2300}}–1750 BC in the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] city of [[Mohenjo-daro]] (in modern-day [[Pakistan]]),<ref>Harle, J.C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', p. 17, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0300062176}}</ref> which was one of the earliest cities. The statue is {{convert|10.5|cm|in}} tall, and depicts a nude young woman or girl with stylized ornaments, standing in a confident, naturalistic pose. ''Dancing Girl'' is highly regarded as a work of art.

The statue was excavated by British archaeologist [[Ernest J. H. Mackay|Ernest Mackay]] in the "HR area" of Mohenjo-daro in 1926.<ref name=national>{{cite web|title=Collections:Pre-History & Archaeology|publisher=National Museum, New Delhi|url=http://nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/en/collections/index/6|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=28 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928223217/http://nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/en/collections/index/6|url-status=live}}</ref> It is now in the [[National Museum, New Delhi]], having been allocated to India at the [[Partition of India]] in 1947.

==History==
After excavation at Mohenjo-daro in 1926, this and the other finds were initially deposited in the [[Lahore Museum]], but later moved to the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] headquarters at [[New Delhi]], where a new "Central Imperial Museum" was being planned for the new capital of the [[British Raj]], in which at least a selection would be displayed. It became apparent that Indian independence was approaching, but the [[Partition of India]] was not anticipated until late in the process.

The new Pakistani authorities requested the return of the Mohenjo-daro pieces excavated on their territory, but the Indian authorities refused. Eventually an agreement was reached, whereby the finds, totalling some 12,000 objects (most [[sherd]]s of pottery), were split equally between the countries; in some cases this was taken very literally, with some necklaces and girdles having their beads separated into two piles. In the case of the "two most celebrated sculpted figures", Pakistan asked for and received the [[Mohenjo-daro Priest-King|so-called ''Priest-King'' figure]], while India retained the much smaller ''Dancing Girl''.<ref>Singh, 111-112 (112 quoted)</ref>

Despite the division of the Mohenjo-daro finds having been agreed by the two governments at partition, some Pakistani politicians have subsequently demanded that the ''Dancing Girl'' be returned to Pakistan.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mansoor |first=Hasan |date=11 October 2016 |title=Pakistan needs to do homework for Dancing Girl's return |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1289410 |work=Dawn |access-date=11 October 2016 |archive-date=11 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011125257/http://www.dawn.com/news/1289410 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, a Pakistani barrister, Javed Iqbal Jaffery, petitioned the Lahore High Court for the return of the statue, claiming that it had been "taken from Pakistan 60 years ago on the request of the National Arts Council in Delhi but never returned". According to him, the ''Dancing Girl'' was to Pakistan what Da Vinci's ''[[Mona Lisa]]'' was to Europe.<ref name="dawn">{{Cite news |date=2016-10-11 |title=Move to bring 'Dancing Girl' back from India |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1289393 |access-date=2017-04-18 |work=DAWN.COM |language=en |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419101305/https://www.dawn.com/news/1289393 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, no public request to India has been made by the Pakistani government.

==Description==
This is one of two bronze figures found at Mohenjo-daro that show more flexible features when compared to other more formal poses. The girl is nude, wears a number of [[bangle]]s and a necklace and is shown in a natural standing position with one hand on her hip.<ref name="jane">{{cite book|last1=McIntosh|first1=Jane R.|title=The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives|date=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, California|isbn=9781576079072|pages=281, 407|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&q=dancing+girl|access-date=15 November 2014}}</ref> She wears 24 to 25 [[bangle]]s on her left arm and 4 bangles on her right arm, and some object was held in her left hand, which is resting on her thigh; both arms are unusually long.<ref name="singh">{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Education|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788131711200|page=162|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&q=dancing+girl+harappa&pg=PA162|access-date=15 November 2014|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119083024/https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&q=dancing+girl+harappa&pg=PA162#v=snippet&q=dancing%20girl%20harappa&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Her necklace has three big pendants. She has her long hair styled in a big bun that is resting on her shoulder.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e--vDQAAQBAJ&q=aesthetics+of+the+dancing+girl+mohenjodaro&pg=PA34|title=Origin of Indians and their Spacetime|last=Nalapat|first=Dr Suvarna|date=2013-02-16|publisher=D C Books|isbn=9789381699188|language=en|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119083045/https://books.google.com/books?id=e--vDQAAQBAJ&q=aesthetics+of+the+dancing+girl+mohenjodaro&pg=PA34#v=snippet&q=aesthetics%20of%20the%20dancing%20girl%20mohenjodaro&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Interpretations==
{{multiple image
| perrow = 2
| total_width = 350
| caption_align = center
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header =
| image1 = The Dancing Girl, in a photogravure by Alfred Nawrath,1938.jpg
| caption1 =
| image2 = Bronze dancing girl (back view).jpg
| caption2 =
| footer = Bronze dancing girl (front and back views)
}}

In 1973, British archaeologist [[Mortimer Wheeler]] described the item as his favourite statuette:
<blockquote>
She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro – Who Was She?|publisher=thoughtco.com|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-dancing-girl-of-mohenjo-daro-171329|access-date=29 March 2017|archive-date=30 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330085519/https://www.thoughtco.com/the-dancing-girl-of-mohenjo-daro-171329|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

John Marshall, the archeologist at Mohenjo-daro who found the figure, described the figure as "a young girl, her hand on her hip in a half-impudent posture, and legs slightly forward as she beats time to the music with her legs and feet".<ref>{{cite book|last=Possehl|first=Gregory|title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective|publisher=AltaMira Press|year=2002|pages=113|isbn=978-0-7591-0172-2}}</ref> He is known to have reacted with surprise when he saw this statuette. He said "When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mohenjo daro and Indus Civilization|last=Marshall|first=John|publisher=Arthur Probsthain}}</ref> The archaeologist [[Gregory Possehl]] described ''Dancing Girl'' as "the most captivating piece of art from an Indus site" and qualified the description of her as a dancer by stating that "We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it."<ref name="gregory" />

To the American IVC specialist [[Jonathan Kenoyer]], the reading of the figure as a dancer is "based on a colonial British perception of Indian dancers, but it more likely represents a woman carrying an offering" (which he also thinks the second figure is doing),<ref>[[Jonathan Mark Kenoyer|Kenoyer, J.M.]] in Matthiae, P; Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl Clifford, ''Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus'', p. 391, 2003, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC google books]</ref> although most sources, such as the [[National Museum of India]], continue to see her as a dancer.<ref name="national" />

[[File:Mohenje-daro statuette, Mackay.jpg|thumb|upright|Second bronze statuette of a girl, now displayed at [[National Museum of Pakistan|Karachi Museum]], Pakistan<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mackay |first1=E. J. H. |title=Further excavations at mohenjo-daro-vol.ii |date=1937 |page=Plate LXXIII |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9954/page/n159/mode/1up}}</ref>|left]]
[[File:Dancing Girl engraving on a potsherd.jpg|alt=Dancing Girl engraving on a potsherd|thumb|upright|Dancing Girl engraving on a piece of red potsherd, discovered at [[Bhirrana]], India]]
The statue led to two important discoveries about the civilization: first that they knew metal blending, casting and other sophisticated methods, and secondly that entertainment, especially dance, was part of the culture.<ref name="national" /> The bronze girl was made using the [[lost-wax casting]] technique and shows the expertise of the people in making bronze works during that time.<ref name="jane" />

A similar bronze statuette was found by Mackay during his final full season of 1930–1931 at DK-G area in a house at Mohenjo-daro. The preservation, as well as quality of craftsmanship, is inferior to that of the well known ''Dancing Girl''.<ref name="gregory">{{cite book|last1=Possehl|first1=Gregory L.|title=The indus civilization : a contemporary perspective|date=2002|publisher=AltaMira Press|location=Walnut Creek, California|isbn=9780759101722|page=114|edition=2. print.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&q=dancing+girl+harappa&pg=PA112|access-date=15 November 2014|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119083044/https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&q=dancing+girl+harappa&pg=PA112#v=snippet&q=dancing%20girl%20harappa&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> This second bronze female figure is displayed at the [[National Museum of Pakistan]], Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bronze female figure, Mohenjodaro|url=http://www.masterfile.com/stock-photography/image/841-02824318/Bronze-female-figure-Mohenjodaro-Karachi-Museum-Pakistan-Asia|website=Masterfile|access-date=15 November 2014|archive-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129022937/http://www.masterfile.com/stock-photography/image/841-02824318/Bronze-female-figure-Mohenjodaro-Karachi-Museum-Pakistan-Asia|url-status=live}}</ref>

An engraving on a piece of red [[potsherd]], discovered at [[Bhirrana]], India, a Harappan site in Fatehabad district in Haryana, shows an image that is evocative of ''Dancing Girl''. The excavation team leader, L. S. Rao, Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, ASI, remarked that, "the delineation [of the lines in the potsherd] is so true to the stance, including the disposition of the hands, of the bronze that it appears that the craftsman of Bhirrana had first-hand knowledge of the former".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2502/stories/20080201504012900.htm |title=Discoveries made at Bhirrana in Haryana provide the missing link in the evolution of Harappan civilisation archaeology |work=Frontline |date=2008-01-19 |access-date=2016-01-20 }}</ref><ref name="pot">{{cite news|last1=Subramanian|first1=T. S.|title=The ageless tale a potsherd from Bhirrana tells|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article1909703.ece|access-date=15 November 2014|work=The Hindu|date=12 September 2007|archive-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129021905/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article1909703.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Craddock PT. 2015. [http://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol50_2015_1_Art05.pdf The metal casting tradiitons of South Asia: Continuity and innovation.] ''Indian Journal of History of Science'' 50(1):55–82.
*During Caspers ECL. 1987. [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=11835529 Was the dancing girl from Mohenjo-daro a Nubian?]''Annali, Istituto Oriental di Napoli'' 47(1):99–105.
*[[Jonathan Mark Kenoyer|Kenoyer JM.]] 1998. Seals and sculpture of the Indus cities. ''Minerva'' 9(2):19–24.
*[[Gregory Possehl|Possehl GL.]] 2002. ''The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective''. Walnut Creek, California: Altamira Press.
*Prakash B. 1983. [http://www.bcin.ca/Interface/openbcin.cgi?submit=submit&Chinkey=68234 Metallurgy in India through the ages.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412081747/http://www.bcin.ca/Interface/openbcin.cgi?submit=submit&Chinkey=68234 |date=12 April 2016 }} ''Bulletin of the Metals Museum of the Japan Institute of Metals'' 8:23–36.
*Sadasivan B. 2011. ''The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India.'' Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
*Singh, Kavita, "The Museum Is National", Chapter 4 in: Mathur, Saloni and Singh, Kavita (eds), ''No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia'', 2015, Routledge, [https://www.academia.edu/12710849/The_Museum_is_National PDF on academia.edu] (nb this is different from the article by the same author with the same title in ''India International Centre Quarterly'', vol. 29, no. 3/4, 2002, pp. 176–196, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005825 JSTOR], which does not mention this work)

{{Indus Valley Civilization}}
[[Category:21st-century BC works]]
[[Category:3rd-millennium BC sculptures]]
[[Category:1926 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Bronze sculptures in India]]
[[Category:Mohenjo-daro]]
[[Category:Prehistoric sculpture]]
[[Category:Statues in India]]
[[Category:Sculptures of dancers]]
[[Category:Pakistani sculpture]]
[[Category:Bronze Age art]]
[[Category:Nude sculptures of women]]
[[Category:Sculptures of women in India]]
[[Category:Ancient art in metal]]
[[Category:Statues of women]]
[[Category:Sculptures of children]]

Dancing Girl prehistoric sculpture - Revision history

Vilianaizi at 02:52, 30 April 2026