The Indian government has quietly reprinted history textbooks restoring an image of the Indus Valley ‘dancing girl’ after a global backlash over its earlier censored version. Sources confirm the original photograph, which shows a nude bronze torso of a woman, was replaced in April with a cropped image that eliminated the figure’s breasts. The alteration sparked outrage among archaeologists and historians who accused the government of sanitising the past.
Documents obtained by this desk show the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) issued new copies to schools this week, with the uncropped image reinstated. A NCERT official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision came after ‘representations from academic bodies and concerns about international perceptions’. The official added: ‘We realised the cropping was a mistake. We cannot rewrite history to fit modern sensibilities.’
The original photograph, depicting a bronze statue from Mohenjo-Daro circa 2500 BCE, is one of the most famous artefacts from the Indus Valley civilisation. The cropped version, published in Class XII textbooks, triggered a storm on social media and prompted protests from the Indian History Congress. ‘This was cultural vandalism,’ said Dr. Alok Tripathi, a former director of the Archaeological Survey of India. ‘It damaged India’s credibility as a custodian of heritage.’
Yet the damage may already be done. The UNESCO representative in New Delhi confirmed that the organisation had received a formal complaint from a group of international scholars questioning India’s commitment to preserving its own history. ‘This affair has raised serious questions about academic freedom and the politicisation of textbooks,’ the representative said in a statement.
The timing is explosive. India is currently vying for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and has been pitching itself as a responsible global leader. The textbook controversy, first reported by this newspaper in May, has been repeatedly referenced in foreign media as an example of creeping censorship under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
NCERT’s volte-face does not undo the damage. Several educational publishers who had been waiting for official guidance have already printed copies with the cropped image. ‘We’re stuck with thousands of books we can’t use,’ said a distributor in Delhi who asked not to be named. ‘Schools are confused. Parents are furious. This is a mess.’
Behind the scenes, the fight is far from over. Right-wing groups that originally pressured NCERT to censor the image have not retreated. The RSS-affiliated Vidya Bharati network, which runs thousands of schools, issued a statement calling the restoration ‘a surrender to Western values’. The group’s education secretary said: ‘Our textbooks must reflect Indian culture. The dancing girl is not a symbol of our glorious past.’
Historians disagree. The dancing girl is a testament to the sophistication of the Indus people, a civilisation that predates the Vedic period. ‘Censoring her is like deleting the Sphinx’s nose,’ said Professor Nayanjot Lahiri, an archaeologist at Ashoka University. ‘It’s an act of cultural suicide.’
As NCERT scrambles to contain the fallout, the question remains: who ordered the original crop? The education ministry has declined to comment. But my sources point to a circular issued in March by a mid-level bureaucrat in the Ministry of Culture, which instructed textbook publishers to ‘ensure conformity with traditional Indian norms’. The circular was withdrawn in June, but not before the damage was done.
This is not the first time India’s textbooks have been rewritten. Since 2014, sections on the Mughal empire have been reduced, while references to beef consumption in ancient India have been expunged. Each edit is small, but together they constitute a systematic attempt to mould the past to fit a nationalist agenda.
The reprinting of the dancing girl may be a rare victory for fact over fiction. But the war over India’s history is far from over. And as the world watches, a bronze girl dances again, for now.
