Dancing Girl ( sculpture ) - wikipedia Dancing Girl ( sculpture ) Dancing Girl ( bronze ), Mohenjo - daro Artist unknown, pre-historic Year c. 2500 BC Type bronze 10.5 cm × 5 cm ( 4 1 / 8 in × 2 in ) Location National Museum, New Delhi, Delhi Dancing Girl is a prehistoric bronze sculpture made in approximately 2500 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilisation city of Mohenjo - daro ( in modern - day Pakistan ), which was one of the earliest human cities. The statue is 10.5 centimetres ( 4.1 in ) tall, and depicts a young woman or girl with stylized proportions standing in a confident, naturalistic pose. Dancing Girl is well - regarded as a work of art, and is a cultural artefact of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The statuette was discovered by British archaeologist Ernest Mackay in 1926, prior to the Partition of India. It is held by the National Museum, New Delhi, and ownership is disputed by Pakistan. Contents 1 Description 2 Expert opinions 3 Pakistan 's demand 4 References Description A bronze statuette DANCING GIRL is 10.5 centimetres ( 4.1 in ) high and about 5,000 years old. It was found in the `` HR area '' of Mohenjo - daro in 1926 by Ernest Mackay. Although it is in a standing position, it was named `` Dancing Girl '' with an assumption of her profession. This is one of two bronze art works found at Mohenjo - daro that show more flexible features when compared to other more formal poses. The girl is naked, wears a number of bangles and a necklace and is shown in a natural standing position with one hand on her hip. She wears 24 to 25 bangles 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. One arm completely filled with bangles which is similar to Banjara lady. Her necklace has three big pendants. She has her long hair styled in a big bun that is resting on her shoulder. This statue is a cultural artifact reflecting the aesthetics of a female body as conceptualized during that historical period. Expert opinions Second bronze statuette of a girl c. 2500 BC, now displayed at Karachi Museum, Pakistan. In 1973, British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler described the item as his favorite statuette : `` 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. '' John Marshall, another archeologist at Mohenjo - daro, 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 ''. He is known to 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. '' 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. '' 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. 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. The statue is displayed at National Museum, New Delhi. A similar bronze statuette was found by Mackay during his final full season of 1930 -- 31 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. This second bronze female figure is displayed at Karachi Museum, Pakistan. 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 ''. Pakistan 's demand Some Pakistani politicians and experts have demanded that the Dancing Girl be `` returned '' to Pakistan. In 2016 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. Another version of events, however, `` suggests the statue was taken to Delhi before Partition by Mortimer Wheeler ''. References ^ Jump up to : `` Collections : Pre-History & Archaeology ''. National Museum, New Delhi. Retrieved 3 February 2014. ^ Jump up to : McIntosh, Jane R. ( 2008 ). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, California : ABC - CLIO. pp. 281, 407. ISBN 9781576079072. Retrieved 15 November 2014. Jump up ^ Singh, Upinder ( 2008 ). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century. New Delhi : Pearson Education. p. 162. ISBN 9788131711200. Retrieved 15 November 2014. Jump up ^ Nalapat, Dr Suvarna ( 2013 - 02 - 16 ). Origin of Indians and their Spacetime. DC Books. ISBN 9789381699188. Jump up ^ `` The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo - Daro - Who Was She ? ''. thoughtco.com. Retrieved 29 March 2017. Jump up ^ Possehl, Gregory ( 2002 ). The Indus Civilization : A Contemporary Perspective. AltaMira Press. p. 113. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7591 - 0172 - 2. Jump up ^ Marshall, John. Mohenjo daro and Indus Civilization. Arthur Probsthain. ^ Jump up to : Possehl, Gregory L. ( 2002 ). The indus civilization : a contemporary perspective ( 2. print. ed. ). Walnut Creek, CA : AltaMira Press. p. 114. ISBN 9780759101722. Retrieved 15 November 2014. Jump up ^ `` Bronze female figure, Mohenjodaro ''. masterfile.com. Masterfile. Retrieved 15 November 2014. Jump up ^ `` Discoveries made at Bhirrana in Haryana provide the missing link in the evolution of Harappan civilisation archaeology ''. Frontline. 2008 - 01 - 19. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 20. Jump up ^ Subramanian, T.S. ( 12 September 2007 ). `` The ageless tale a potsherd from Bhirrana tells ''. The Hindu, Newspaper. Retrieved 15 November 2014. Jump up ^ Mansoor, Hasan ( 11 October 2016 ). `` Pakistan needs to do homework for Dancing Girl 's return ''. Dawn. Jump up ^ Reporter, The Newspaper 's Staff ( 2016 - 10 - 11 ). `` Move to bring ' Dancing Girl ' back from India ''. DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 18. Jump up ^ Khalid, Haroon ( 26 October 2016 ). `` Should Pakistan get the dancing girl from Mohenjo - Daro back ? ''. Huffington Post. General references Craddock PT. 2015. The metal casting tradiitons of South Asia : Continuity and innovation. Indian Journal of History of Science 50 ( 1 ) : 55 - 82. During Caspers ECL. 1987. Was the dancing girl from Mohenjo - daro a Nubian ? Annali, Istituto Oriental di Napoli 47 ( 1 ) : 99 - 105. Kenoyer JM. 1998. Seals and sculpture of the Indus cities. Minerva 9 ( 2 ) : 19 - 24. Possehl GL. 2002. The Indus Civilization : A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, California : Altamira Press. Prakash B. 1983. Metallurgy in India through the ages. 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. Indus Valley Civilisation History and culture Indus River Periodisation Bhirrana Culture Mehrgarh Culture Kulli Culture Amri Culture Bara Culture Cemetery H Culture Architecture Harappan architecture Sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilisation Great Bath, Mohenjo - daro Inventions of the Indus Valley Civilisation Language and script Harappan language Indus script Indus Valley sites in Pakistan Harappa Mohenjo - daro Nausharo Chanhudaro Mehrgarh Lakhueen - jo - daro Larkana Pirak Kot Diji Rehman Dheri Amri Sutkagan Dor Sokhta Koh Tharro Hills Pir Shah Jurio Allahdino Balakot Ongar Ganeriwala Nindowari Judeir - jo - daro Dabarkot Indus Valley sites in India Dholavira Gola Dhoro Lothal Bhagatrav Rangpur Jognakhera Surkotada Kalibangan Manda Alamgirpur Daimabad Malwan Kunal Rakhigarhi Rupnagar Rupar Hulas Kanmer Oriyo timbo Dher Majra Lohari Ragho Dwarka Kuntasi Loteshwar Mandi Farmana Ganeshwar Sothi Siswal Sanauli Sanghol Pabumath Nagwada Babar Kot Balu Bara Bargaon Bhagwanpura Bhirrana Banawali Rojdi Kotla Nihang Khan Kerala - no - dhoro Mitathal Desalpur Indus Valley sites in Afghanistan Mundigak Shortugai Related topics Meluhha Ochre Coloured Pottery culture Northern Black Polished Ware Painted Grey Ware culture Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dancing_Girl_(sculpture)&oldid=852947398 '' Categories : 25th - century BC works 1926 archaeological discoveries Bronze sculptures in India Indus Valley Civilisation Prehistoric sculpture Statues in India Talk Contents About Wikipedia অসমীয়া বাংলা Español हिन्दी മലയാളം ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Português Română සිංහල اردو 3 more Edit links This page was last edited on 1 August 2018, at 12 : 23 ( UTC ). 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Question: the dancer figurine from mohenjo daro civilization is made of
Answer: bronze