Nude Artefact Image Withdrawn from Indian School Textbook After Backlash

The "covered-up" image of a nude artefact has been withdrawn from an Indian school textbook after it sparked a massive backlash from historians and educationists.

The bronze sculpture - known as the Dancing girl from Mohenjo-daro - shows a girl standing with one hand on her hip and is one of the most recognisable artefacts from the Indus Valley civilisation.

After it created an uproar, officials said that the original image has been restored in the digital version of the book and that new print editions would also carry the unedited photo of the bronze sculpture.

After news broke of the inclusion of the modified image, historians had accused the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) - which drafted the textbook - of disfiguring the iconic artefact.

A chapter on the Indus Valley has been a staple in Indian school curriculum, and though the Dancing Girl sculpture has appeared in textbooks for decades - including in earlier versions of NCERT textbooks - its torso has never been censored in any way.

The NCERT has not yet shared a reason for introducing the modified image but media reports have speculated that it could be due to concerns over nudity.

"The Dancing Girl has been significant not because it conforms to a blindfolded standard of modesty but because it embodies poise, confidence and unmistakable presence. If the task of education is to equip young people to engage with the world as it is, then NCERT would do better to trust both students, and women - both contemporary and millennia old - with a little more agency."

The Dancing Girl sculpture, which was discovered at Mohenjo-daro - one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation - depicts a girl adorned with ornaments with her hair tied in a bun.