Clothing History
From The Wire Present India often exhibits a curious contradiction. Popular cinema, advertising, and social media can be highly focused on physical appearance and sexuality, yet educational or artistic representations of the body provoke alarm. The latest incident is dressing up the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro in NCERT’s class 9 textbook. The Dancing Girl is a tiny statuette that originally belonged to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation of Mohenjo-Daro of 2500 BCE. The figure depicts a young girl standing in a confident, relaxed pose, with one hand resting on her hip and the other hanging by her side. She has numerous bangles on her arms and a necklace, while her hair appears to be gathered into a bun. What strikes you most is the vitality and self-assurance exuded by the girl. However, NCERT decided that her nudity is what will strike our schoolchildren. So it dressed up the girl in its textbooks. The female body attracts undue scrutiny in India (as well as many other cons...
