Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro

History glossary

Also called: Dancing Girl · Topic: Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) Civilisation · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation"

Meaning

The Dancing Girl is a small bronze statue of a young woman found at Mohenjo-daro. It is about 10.5–10.8 cm tall (sources give slightly different figures), and it was made by the lost-wax method. It is the best-known piece of Harappan metal art. It shows that Harappan craftspeople could cast metal well and could show a lively, natural human figure.

Explanation

Background: metal craft in Harappan cities

  • Bronze is an alloy, meaning a mix of metals. It is made by melting copper with tin.
  • Harappans had to bring these metals from far away:
  • Copper came from Khetri, Rajasthan. Expeditions probably dealt with the non-Harappan Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture, which was rich in copper.

  • Shortughai in northern Afghanistan was a Harappan colony set up to control lapis lazuli and reportedly tin [2].

  • Craft work was not limited to small craft towns like Chanhudaro. Big cities such as Mohenjo-daro also had their own workshops.

  • So the Dancing Girl comes from a city that had both the raw materials and skilled metal-workers.

How it was made: the lost-wax technique

  • The lost-wax technique (also called cire perdue) works in five steps:
  • First, the artist makes a model of the figure in wax.
  • Next, the wax model is covered with clay and left to dry.
  • Then the clay is heated. The wax melts and runs out through a small hole, leaving an empty mould.
  • Molten bronze is poured into this mould.

  • When the metal cools, the clay is broken and the bronze figure comes out.

  • Each mould can be used only once, so every figure made this way is one of a kind.

  • Harappan craftspeople used the same method for other metal objects. It is still used in parts of India today.

Main features of the figure

  • Pose: She stands with her right hand on her hip and her left arm hanging loose. One leg is slightly bent. Her head is tilted a little, which makes her look confident and relaxed.
  • Ornaments: Her left arm is covered almost to the shoulder with bangles. Her right arm has a few bangles. She wears a necklace.
  • Hair: Her hair is tied in a bun.
  • Body: She has long, thin limbs and wears no clothes.
  • Style: It is a figure "in the round", meaning you can view it from all sides. It shows movement, not a stiff pose. The name "Dancing Girl" is a modern label. We do not know for sure that she was a dancer.

Significance

  • It is one of the earliest known bronze sculptures from the Indian subcontinent.
  • It shows careful control over metal casting and over body proportion.
  • Bangles were a common Harappan ornament. Shell bangles were made at coastal centres such as Nageshwar and Balakot. The figure shows how much people valued such ornaments.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: Mature Harappan phase, c. 2600–1900 BCE.
  • Site: Mohenjo-daro, in Sindh, Pakistan. Mohenjo-daro covered about 125 ha and was one of the largest Harappan cities. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Discovery: Found during the 1920s excavations at Mohenjo-daro.
  • Present location: National Museum, New Delhi.
  • Evidence: We know about it from the actual object dug up from the ground (archaeological evidence). No Harappan text explains who she was, because the Harappan script has not yet been read.

Don't confuse with

  • Priest-King (Mohenjo-daro): It is made of steatite (a soft stone), not bronze. It shows a bearded man wearing a shawl with a trefoil (three-leaf) pattern.
  • Male torso from Harappa: It is made of red sandstone and comes from Harappa, not Mohenjo-daro.
  • Mother Goddess figurines: These are made of terracotta (baked clay), not metal. They are shaped by hand, not cast by the lost-wax method.
  • Chanhudaro: It was a specialised craft town for beads, shell, metal and seals. The Dancing Girl comes from Mohenjo-daro, a large city, not from Chanhudaro.

Prelims Hooks

  • Dancing Girl: material is bronze, method is lost-wax (cire perdue), find site is Mohenjo-daro.
  • She is kept in the National Museum, New Delhi, not in a museum in Pakistan.
  • Her left arm is covered almost fully with bangles, and her right hand rests on her hip.
  • Trap: the Priest-King is steatite and the Dancing Girl is bronze. Questions often swap their materials.
  • Bronze = copper + tin. Harappan copper came from Khetri (Rajasthan). Shortughai (Afghanistan) is linked to lapis lazuli and reportedly tin [2].
  • Mohenjo-daro is in Sindh, Pakistan.

Mains Points

  • Technical skill: The Dancing Girl shows that Harappans had mastered metal technology.
  • Lost-wax casting needed skilled workers and a steady supply of copper and tin.

  • These metals came from distant places such as Khetri and Afghanistan, which shows a planned system for getting raw materials.

  • Art and culture: The figure is natural, full of movement and shows confidence.

  • This suggests Harappan art was not only for religion or ritual. It also showed everyday human life.

  • It makes Harappan art an early base of Indian sculpture.

  • Continuity: The lost-wax method lasted long after the Harappans.

  • It was later used for Chola bronzes.
  • Dhokra craft-workers still use it today, which is a living link with India's oldest metal art.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation" (primary)
  2. 2Shortughaibritannica.com · tier 3