The "male dancer" standing on its right leg belongs to:

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 3:
The "male dancer" statuette is a small but highly significant artifact associated with the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, specifically excavated from the city of Harappa. This figure, often referred to as the *Grey Stone Male Torso* (or a similar *Red Jasper Torso* which is static), is consistently dated to the Mature Harappan period, approximately 2600–1900 B.C. It is renowned for its dynamic, twisting pose—standing on the right leg with the body bent and the left leg presumably raised—which is considered one of the earliest representations of a dancing figure in world art. The extraordinary anatomical realism and sophisticated modeling confirmed the advanced artistic capabilities of the Harappan people, placing this sculpture firmly within the Bronze Age civilization.

The incorrect option is 1:
The Shunga period, which spanned approximately 185–73 BCE, belongs to the post-Mauryan era, over a thousand years after the Harappan civilization flourished. Artistically, the Shunga style is characterized by the bas-relief carvings on the gateways and railings of Buddhist stupas at sites like Bharhut. Shunga figures tend to be more static and narrative-focused, exhibiting a style that is distinctly different and much later than the naturalistic, freestanding dynamism seen in the Harappan male dancer torso.

The incorrect option is 2:
The Mathura school of art was a major center for sculpture that emerged later, dating from roughly the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE. It is particularly famous for its indigenous red sandstone images of the Buddha and Jinas, created during the Kushana and early Gupta periods. While Mathura sculpture is vital to Indian art history, its stylistic hallmarks and its chronological placement are firmly within the historical period, separating it by millennia from the prehistoric Indus Valley period to which the male dancer belongs.

The incorrect option is 4:
The Gupta period (c. 4th–6th century CE) is celebrated as the "Golden Age" of Indian classical art, known for producing serene, spiritually expressive sculptures with fine details and "wet drapery" effects. This classical style is vastly removed, both chronologically and stylistically, from the Harappan civilization. Although the startling sophistication of the Harappan torso initially caused some scholars to mistake it for a work of the later Gupta era, the indisputable archaeological evidence of its find spot and stratum confirms its much earlier, prehistoric Harappan origin.