The famous female figurine known as 'Dancing Girl', found at Mohenjo-daro, is made of
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) bronze
The 'Dancing Girl' of Mohenjo-daro is a small bronze statue. NCERT calls it the best example of a human figure in bronze from the Indus Valley, and says Harappan bronze statues were made by the lost-wax method.
- ✗ (a) Carnelian was a bead stone: NCERT lists it among the materials of Harappan beads, not of statues.
- ✗ (b) Clay (terracotta or burnt clay) was a common Harappan material, but the Dancing Girl is a cast metal figure.
- ✓ (c) NCERT names the statue of a girl popularly titled 'Dancing Girl' as the best example of a human figure in bronze.
- ✗ (d) Gold appears in Harappan necklaces, earrings and beads, but the Dancing Girl is a bronze casting.
Remember · Dancing Girl (Mohenjo-daro): a small bronze statue of a girl, cast by the lost-wax method; the best-known Harappan human figure in bronze.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 2 “In bronze we find human as well as animal figures, the best example of the former being the statue of a girl popularly titled 'Dancing Girl'.”
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 2 “Their bronze statues were made using the 'lost wax' technique in which the wax figures were first covered with a coating of clay and allowed to dry.”
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 2 “Beads were made of carnelian, amethyst, jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc. Metals like copper, bronze and gold, and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay were also used for manufacturing beads.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·