Write a note on the significance of the statue of dancing girl of Mohenjo-Daro to India’s art and culture. (150 Words)
One of the rarest artefacts world-over, a tiny bronze-cast, the statue of a young lady called ‘Indus dancing girl’, represents a stylistically poised female figure performing a dance. The bronze statue is hardly four inches high yet speaks ample of the superb craftsmanship and of the caster’s skills.
Significance-
- Social outlook – The forward thrust of the left leg and backwards tilted right, the gesture of the hands, demeanour of the face and uplifted head, all speak of absorption in dance, perhaps one of those early styles that combined drama with dance, and dialogue with body-gestures. It was a well-developed society, Indus people had innovated dance and other performing arts as modes of entertainment. Her elaborately coiled hair, her bangles and necklaces speaks of social life of India at that time.
- Scientific & technical outlook– But its most interesting aspect is that in casting it the Harappan metallurgists used an advanced technique known as the lost-wax (cire perdue) process. The Indus artists knew metal blending and casting and perhaps other technical aspects of metallurgy
- Skill of art & handicraft – The figure has been cast as wearing on her breasts a necklace with four ‘phalis‘ like shaped pendants.
- Dress, hair styles & ornaments – Women loved jewellery and wore heavy bangles in profusion, large necklaces, and earrings.
- Women’s Status– with hand on hip, and the expression of self-assurance on her face, it represents a respected & confident woman of Harappan society
- Open Society – This small figure confirms that the Harappan people were neither shy of nakedness nor of explicit sensuality