Performing arts: classical dance & the natya tradition

The Natyashastra and the theoretical scaffold

Indian classical dance descends from a single foundational text: the Natyashastra, attributed to the sage Bharata Muni and dated by most scholars between 200 BCE and 200 CE. Composed in Sanskrit across 36 chapters, it is the world's earliest comprehensive treatise on dramaturgy, treating dance (nritta and nritya), drama (natya), music and aesthetics as a single integrated discipline. It is styled the 'fifth Veda' (panchama veda), accessible to all varnas, and its origin myth has Brahma drawing recitation from the Rigveda, song from the Samaveda, gesture (abhinaya) from the Yajurveda and rasa (aesthetic flavour) from the Atharvaveda.

The Natyashastra's most examinable contribution is the Rasa theory: the eight original rasas are shringara (love), hasya (comedy), karuna (compassion), raudra (anger), veera (heroism), bhayanaka (fear), bibhatsa (disgust) and adbhuta (wonder); the ninth, shanta (peace), was added later, most influentially by the Kashmiri aesthetician Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016 CE) in his commentary, the Abhinavabharati. Each rasa is evoked by a corresponding bhava (emotional state).

Nritta, nritya, natya and the abhinayas

Classical dance is analysed through three categories: nritta (pure rhythmic movement, no meaning), nritya (expressive, meaning-bearing dance combining rhythm with emotion) and natya (dramatic enactment with narrative). Expression is conveyed through four abhinayas: angika (body and gesture), vachika (speech and song), aharya (costume, ornament, make-up) and sattvika (involuntary emotional states such as tears or trembling).

The later text Abhinaya Darpana by Nandikeshvara codifies the hastas or mudras — single-hand gestures (asamyukta hasta, 28 in number) and combined-hand gestures (samyukta hasta, 24 in number). These vocabularies, together with the karanas (108 basic units of dance movement carved on the gopurams of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram), form the technical grammar a candidate must recognise.

Institutionally, the apex body is the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, established in 1952 (formally inaugurated 28 January 1953). The SNA officially recognises eight classical dance forms: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North India), Kathakali and Mohiniyattam (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri (Manipur) and Sattriya (Assam). Sattriya, founded by the Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva in 15th-century Assam, was the most recent addition, granted classical status by the SNA in 2000. The Ministry of Culture, by contrast, sometimes lists nine by including Chhau, which UNESCO inscribed on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010 — a recurring source of confusion in objective questions.

Distinguishing the eight forms

Bharatanatyam, the oldest, evolved from the sadir and Dasi Attam performed by devadasis in Tamil temples; it was revived in the 1930s through Rukmini Devi Arundale (who founded Kalakshetra, Chennai, in 1936) and theorised in the Abhinaya Darpana and the Tanjore Quartet's margam repertoire. Its postures are linear and geometric, built on the aramandi (half-sitting) stance.

Kathak, the only major classical form with both Hindu temple and Mughal court lineages, derives from the kathakars (storytellers). Its principal gharanas are Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras; it is marked by rapid pirouettes (chakkars), intricate footwork and tatkar. Birju Maharaj of the Lucknow gharana was its leading 20th-century exponent.

Kathakali (Kerala) is a male-dominated dance-drama with elaborate green/red/black face make-up (vesham) and towering costumes, drawing on the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Mohiniyattam, also from Kerala, is a graceful solo female lasya form named after the enchantress Mohini.

Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh) originated as a Bhagavata Mela dance-drama tradition associated with Siddhendra Yogi (15th–17th century); its signature is the tarangam, danced on the rim of a brass plate. Odissi (Odisha) is sculpturesque, defined by the tribhanga (three-bend) posture and the chowk, and is linked to the maharis and gotipuas of the Jagannath temple at Puri.

Manipuri centres on Vaishnavite Raslila devoted to Radha-Krishna, with gentle, rounded movements and the pung (drum). Sattriya emerged from the sattras (monasteries) of Assam.

Why this matters for the exam

For Prelims GS, performing arts is a perennial source of one-mark questions testing single-fact recall: which state a dance belongs to, its signature posture, its founding saint, or whether a form is SNA-recognised. PYQs include the 2014 question pairing dance forms with states and the 2017 question on the Sangam-era and devadasi traditions. The high-yield matrix to memorise is form → state → key feature → seminal text/exponent. Distinguish the eight SNA-classical forms from folk and tribal forms (Chhau, Garba, Bihu, Yakshagana), and note UNESCO ICH inscriptions: Kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre (2008), Ramlila (2008), Chhau (2010) and Mudiyettu of Kerala (2010).

For Mains GS-1 (Indian heritage and culture), questions are analytical: trace how classical dance reflects religious philosophy and synthesis (e.g., Kathak's Hindu–Islamic confluence), or assess the role of revivalists like Rukmini Devi and institutions like the SNA in preserving intangible heritage. Always anchor answers in the Natyashastra, rasa theory, and dated revival movements, and link to contemporary debates on heritage funding and the devadasi system's abolition (the Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act, 1947).