Classical & folk dance forms
Master India's eight classical dances and major folk forms—their texts, regions, gurus and Sangeet Natak Akademi recognition—for UPSC Prelims and GS-1.
The Eight Classical Dances
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy for performing arts established in 1953, recognises eight classical dance forms. The traditional seven are Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North India), Kathakali (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri (Manipur) and Mohiniyattam (Kerala). Sattriya (Assam) was elevated to classical status by the Akademi in 2000, making eight. The Ministry of Culture, through the Akademi, applies criteria rooted in the Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni (c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE), the foundational treatise that codifies nritta (pure rhythmic movement), nritya (expressive dance) and natya (drama), along with rasa (aesthetic emotion) and bhava (mood).
Defining Features by Form
Bharatanatyam descends from the Sadir of the temple devadasis; revived in the 1930s by Rukmini Devi Arundale (who founded Kalakshetra in 1936) and theorised by E. Krishna Iyer. It uses the araimandi (half-sitting) posture and is structured by the margam repertoire (alarippu, jatiswaram, varnam, padam, tillana).
Kathak is the only major North Indian classical form, evolving from temple kathakars (story-tellers) and flowering in Mughal courts. Its gharanas are Lucknow (Wajid Ali Shah's patronage, emphasising bhava), Jaipur (footwork and tatkar) and Banaras. Pandit Birju Maharaj (Lucknow gharana) was its most celebrated 20th-century exponent.
Kathakali is a Kerala dance-drama using elaborate vesham make-up (pacha, kathi, thaadi), drawn largely from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, with mudras codified in the Hastalakshana Deepika.
Kuchipudi originated as a Brahmin male tradition in the village of Kuchelapuram; Siddhendra Yogi (15th century) authored the Bhama Kalapam. It is distinguished by the tarangam, danced on the rim of a brass plate.
Odissi is reconstructed from the maharis (temple dancers) and gotipuas (boy dancers) of the Jagannath temple, Puri; its sculptural tribhanga posture mirrors the Sun Temple at Konark. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was its modern architect.
Manipuri centres on Raslila devotion to Radha-Krishna, with the gentle Lasya and vigorous Tandava (the Pung Cholom drum dance).
Mohiniyattam, the "dance of the enchantress," is a solo female lasya form of Kerala, revived under the patronage of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal of Travancore.
Sattriya was created by the Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) in the sattras (monasteries) of Assam and performed traditionally by bhokots (male monks).
Folk Dance Anchors
Folk forms are region-specific and community-rooted: Bhangra/Giddha (Punjab), Garba/Dandiya (Gujarat, Navratri), Bihu (Assam), Lavani (Maharashtra), Ghoomar (Rajasthan), Chhau—a semi-classical martial-masked form of Purulia, Seraikella and Mayurbhanj, inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010.
