#mohenjo daro

[rhysaka]

NCERT covering up the famous Dancing Girl artefact of Mohenjodaro is exactly why we need to decolonize from foreign-colonial conservative ideals.

[unbfacts]

The Indus Valley Civilization had one of the world’s earliest urban sanitation systems over 4,000 years ago. In cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, many homes had bathroom areas and water-washed latrines connected to covered street drains.

[archiveofaffinities]

The Great Bath on The Citadel, Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan

[tomorrowwithme]

The artificial cultural debate about ancient Indic artefacts and age-appropriateness - is it really about shielding children or is there something sinister going on?

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) came under fire for covering the torso of the famous Mohenjo-daro "Dancing Girl" figurine. In the opening chapter of the new Class 9 arts education textbook, Madhurima, digital shading was added cover the 4,000-year-old bronze sculpture.

Michel Danino, the former head of the Class 6 Social Science textbook committee, told that the council members were concerned that the statue could be "controversial" for younger students due to its bareness. Danino strongly opposed the move. He's been accused of engaging in "Hindutva pseudo-history" himself.

Following public backlash, the NCERT reversed its decision. Director Dinesh Saklani announced that NCERT is restoring the altered image with the original version across both digital and print editions of the textbook. Saklani publicly distanced himself from the direct approval of the edit. He stated to the press that he was "not aware of any specific reason behind the change" and immediately redirected the media attention by sending the book back to the internal art education department for a mandatory review. The final push came from the Union Education Ministry, which officially demanded a formal explanation from NCERT hours after the media exposed the altered image. This pressure from the ministry bypassed internal committee approvals and forced the council to immediately restore the original.

Then who was behind the team making Madhurima, and who was behind the approval of digital alteration? NCERT has kept the specific designer and approval records private, but here's what's publicly available information: the digital alteration originated within the NCERT Department of Arts Education (DAE) and its assigned textbook development committee for Madhurima. The individual editor, who applied the digital shading, remains anonymous, the DAE panel as a collective body drafted and finalized the chapter content. The actual digital shading in Madhurima was executed under the purview of the team designing the Arts curriculum. This team is headed by Sandhya Purecha, who serves as the chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. She is an internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer, author, and researcher. Her work focuses heavily on ancient Sanskrit texts like the Natyashastra and the Abhinaya Darpanam. While the exact internal author of the edit has not been publicly named by NCERT, accountability for content layout and modifications in this specific book falls under her development team. Now, I believe that she wasn't overlooking this decision, it is possible she had no idea. The committee heads don't personally write or draft the textbook material. Instead, textbook creation is delegated to independent committees. Some of these committee head positions are nominal, like the position of Sudha Murthy for example. It is entirely possible that an ideologically motivated person made the alteration and that this alteration bypassed all internal scrutiny until the people noticed this alteration. We don't know who this ideologically motivated person is, and we can only take Danino's words as speculation, until NCERT becomes transparent with their audits. 

Who do you think might have been behind this act?

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 62: early Modern and Much Earlier

If you could travel through time, but only to see something for research or fun, not to change anything, what would you pick? (Yes you may have a babel fish in your ear to translate. you are immune to disease and damage).

The Future California circa 1400

Longitudinal survey of Mayan religion and practice.

Carboniferous forests, before Angiosperms became dominant.

Lie on one's back in temperate places pre-invention of fire to see the stars

Mohenjo Daro in it's heyday.

The abandonment of Gobeklitepe and Catalhoyuk

Longitudinal Survey of Babylonian cuisine.

Follow Moses Around.

Voting ended onOct 16, 2024

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration.

I can't remember if we did this one. It would have been late last summer. i think we did some specific species, but i can't remember if it was done in total. I am quoting the whole suggestion here: "Carboniferous forests, before Angiosperms became dominant. I want to see the lepidodendrons and the huge equisetes and all the many Araucaria and gnetophytes and ginkgos that once thrived."

It is too late to fix the typo, but the First item should read somemething like: "People, species, and landscapes of California circa 1400.

[bluairsky]

priest king of mohenjo daro

[h0bg0blin-meat]

I'm just gonna say it.

It is okay if IVC had an entirely separate religion, or lack, thereof. Please do not view this civilization with a predisposition or from the lens of an already-existing religion. Be more open-minded.

[agenticareveluv]

This is probably the most beautiful thing I have even drawn