Sahib’s Nautch Girl: Colonial Archaeology and the Identity Formation of A Bronze Girl Statue From Mohenjodaro

Abstract

The paper studies the process of identity formation of the Harappanartifacts (mainly, bronze girl statue from Mohenjodaro) under the colonial archaeologists. John Marshall and his fellow archaeologists popularized the term nautch girl or dancing girl for the bronze girl statue by connecting it to the public dancer-prostitutes and devadasis. They attributed this statue the identity of a dark-skin aboriginal (negro) girl of kulli or baluchi ethnicity. The nude body of the bronze girl statue captured the imagination of the colonial archaeologists, who applied the theories of racial differences, inverted growth in Indian art, and the feminine Hinduism for the study of the Harappanartifacts including terracotta female figurines, male stone images and the bronze girl statue. The paper argues that the bronze girl statue was culturally reconstructed in the writings of the European scholars, who also showed the possibilities of using the later date Sanskrit Hindu literature for the study of the Harappan civilization.