Overview
The classical dance forms of India are the dance traditions whose theory and practice go back to the Natya Shastra, the ancient Sanskrit text on drama, dance and music. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy of music, dance and drama, recognises eight of them: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Odissi and Sattriya. Each belongs to a region and its language, and most grew up in temples, royal courts or monasteries. All of them share one grammar of pure dance, expressive dance and drama, which is why a dancer of Odissi and a dancer of Bharatanatyam use different steps but the same basic vocabulary of gesture and emotion.
Classical Dances of India: How Many Forms and What Makes Them Classical
Eight Classical Dances of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and Their States
The Akademi's eight is the standard answer in the examination to how many classical dances India has, but other lists run from six to twelve or more, depending on the source and the scholar. The Akademi also gives its annual awards in Chhau alongside the eight, and some scholars add Yakshagana of Karnataka and the Bhagavata Mela tradition as well.
| Dance | State | Roots | Music | Defining trait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bharatanatyam | Tamil Nadu | Temple dancers of Tamil Nadu; once called Sadir or Dasi Attam | Carnatic | Fixed torso and bent knees (aramandi) |
| Kuchipudi | Andhra Pradesh | Dance-drama of Kuchipudi village | Carnatic | Dancer speaks and plays many roles |
| Kathakali | Kerala | Story plays of the seventeenth century | Kerala drums and singers | Painted faces; silent actors |
| Mohiniyattam | Kerala | Performances connected with Kerala's temples | Carnatic, songs in Manipravalam | Gentle lasya style |
| Kathak | Uttar Pradesh and north India | Storytellers, then Mughal and princely courts | Hindustani | Footwork with ankle bells and spins |
| Odissi | Odisha | Temple service by maharis | Odissi songs, with the Gitagovinda | Tribhanga and chauka stances |
| Manipuri | Manipur | Vaishnava faith of the Meiteis | Devotional songs, pung drum | No eye contact; soft, silent footwork |
| Sattriya | Assam | Sattras (Vaishnava monasteries) | Bargeets on classical ragas | Devotional dance-drama of Shankaradeva |
What Makes a Dance Classical: The Natya Shastra, Margi and Desi
A dance is called classical, shastriya in Sanskrit, when it rests on the shastra, above all the Natya Shastra attributed to Bharata Muni. Its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, though estimates range from 500 BCE to 500 CE. The most studied version has about 6,000 verses in 36 chapters, covering drama, the stage, acting, dance and music.
The Natya Shastra separates two kinds of performance. Margi is religious art understood as a spiritual path, while desi is folk entertainment rooted in regional practice. The text also names four regional traditions of dance-drama, the pravrittis: Avanti, Dakshinatya, Panchali and Odra-Magadhi. Later texts built on it, among them the Abhinaya Darpana ("The Mirror of Gesture") of Nandikeshvara and the Abhinava Bharati, Abhinavagupta's commentary on the Natya Shastra.
The classical forms were performed in three kinds of setting:
- In the temple, inside or near the sanctum, as religious art.
- In the halls of royal courts, as with Kathak under the Mughals and the princely states.
- In temple grounds and fairgrounds, by travelling troupes during festivals.
Natya Shastra: The Grammar of Indian Classical Dance
Nritta, Nritya and Natya: The Three Elements of Classical Dance
Every classical dance moves between three elements described in the Natya Shastra, and a recital is built by passing from one to another. The same dancer is by turns a pattern-maker, a storyteller and an actor.
| Element | What it is | What the audience sees |
|---|---|---|
| Nritta | Pure or abstract dance | Fast, rhythmic steps and patterns with no story; beauty of form, speed and line |
| Nritya | Expressive dance | Slower movement in which gesture and face tell a story or convey a feeling |
| Natya | Drama | A play in which one or more dancers take the roles of characters |
The Natya Shastra also describes two moods of dance. Tandava, the dance of Shiva, is vigorous and brisk; lasya, the dance performed by Parvati in response, is gentle and graceful. Manipuri's jagoi and cholom correspond to these gentle and vigorous streams, and Mohiniyattam follows the lasya style.
Abhinaya, Rasa, Mudras and Karanas: The Vocabulary of Expression
The expressive side of classical dance has its own technical vocabulary, and the examination tests these terms directly.
- Abhinaya: The art of expression, which has four aspects, namely angika (the body), vachika (the voice), aharya (costume, make-up and scenery) and sattvika (mental states).
- Rasa: The emotion the audience experiences. Bharata named eight rasas, and later authors added a ninth, shanta, peace, giving the navarasa.
- Mudras: Hand gestures. The Natya Shastra describes 24 single-hand and 13 two-hand gestures, and the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikeshvara gives 28 single-hand gestures. Some, such as chandrakala, depict the moon.
- Karanas: The basic units of dance, each a combination of hand and foot movement with posture and gait; chapter 4 of the Natya Shastra, the Tandava Lakshana, describes 108 of them.
The tribhanga, the triple bend, is a pose that recurs across Indian art. The body bends one way at the knees, the other way at the hips and the first way again at the shoulders and neck, an S‑shaped line. Sculptors have used it for centuries, as in the Pala bronze of Avalokitesvara from Kurkihar and the south Indian bronze figurines of Parvati, and it is most developed and most distinctive in Odissi, where it gives the dance its sculpted look.
Tandava in Temple Sculpture and Inscriptions: Nataraja, Chidambaram and Thanjavur
The Tandava is recorded in stone as well as in text. Shiva as Nataraja, the lord of dance, performs it as the cosmic cycle of creation and destruction, and stone reliefs of Nataraja at Badami and Ellora, from around the sixth century, are among the oldest in India. The Chola bronzes of Tamil Nadu gave the image its best-known form between the tenth and twelfth centuries.
A Chola Nataraja follows a fixed design. Shiva balances on his right leg and presses down the apasmara, the demon of ignorance, with the same foot, while his left leg is raised. His four arms are outstretched. The main right hand shows the abhaya gesture of protection, the upper right holds the damaru drum that keeps the beat, the upper left carries a flame, and the main left hand is held in dola hasta. A ring of flames, the jvala mala, surrounds the whole figure.
The temples of Chidambaram and Thanjavur record the dance in stone.
- Chidambaram: The walls of the Nataraja temple display all 108 karanas of the Natya Shastra, postures that form a foundation of Bharatanatyam.
- Thanjavur: The upper corridor of the Brihadisvara temple, early eleventh century, carves 81 of the 108 karanas; the 27 missing ones are left as blank blocks of stone.
- The inscription of 1011 CE: On its north wall the Thanjavur temple lists over 600 people it employed, among them dance gurus, dancing girls, singers and musicians, with their names, roles and wages paid in parcels of land.
- Temple dancers at Thanjavur: Another inscription of the eleventh century suggests that 400 devadasis were attached to the temple.
Classical Dance Forms of South India
Bharatanatyam: The Temple Dance of Tamil Nadu
Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu, grew out of the art of dancers dedicated to temples and was earlier known as Sadir or Dasi Attam. It was the first of India's traditional dances to be refashioned as a theatre art and shown widely at home and abroad. Temples in South India preserved it as part of their role as centres of culture, and the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur, above all Serfoji II, patronised the musicians who gave the form its early shape.
The present format of a recital, and much of its music, was created in the nineteenth century by the Tanjore Quartet, the brothers Ponniah, Chinnaiah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu. A recital, called the margam, moves through a fixed order:
- Alarippu: A rhythmic invocation of pure dance.
- Jatiswaram: Melody added to the movement, still pure dance.
- Shabdam: The first item with words and expression.
- Varnam: The longest and central section, the core of nritya.
- Padam: An item of expression carrying a devotional or spiritual message.
- Tillana: The climax, which returns to pure dance and closes the recital.
Four other features define the form.
- Technique: A fixed upper torso, bent legs and flexed knees (the aramandi), with footwork and a vocabulary of hand, eye and facial gestures.
- Themes: Human and divine love, grouped under shringara (romantic love) and bhakti (devotion).
- Accompanying ensemble: The music is Carnatic, played by a vocalist, a mridangam player and a flute, violin or veena player, and led by the nattuvanar, the conductor who recites the dance syllables with small cymbals.
- Song languages: The songs are in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit.
The name Bharatanatyam is itself modern. In 1910 the Madras Presidency banned temple dancing; in 1932 E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale proposed renaming Sadir as Bharatanatyam, and in January 1936 Rukmini Devi and her husband George Arundale founded Kalakshetra at Adyar, Chennai.
Kuchipudi: The Dance-Drama of Andhra Pradesh
Kuchipudi, the dance-drama of Andhra Pradesh, is named after the village of Kuchipudi (Kuchelapuram) in Krishna district, where scholars and artists built up its repertoire and refined its technique. It grew largely out of the Bhakti movement, and tradition credits Siddhendra Yogi, in the seventeenth century, with founding its modern form. According to the tradition, he wrote the play Bhama Kalapam and, finding no performers, went to Kuchelapuram and trained a group of young Brahmin boys to stage it.
Kuchipudi combines speech, mime and pure dance. Its nritta uses teermanams and jatis, its nritya uses sabdams, and its natya is acting with mudras that interpret the songs. The dancer becomes several characters on stage through swift changes of mime, and the music is Carnatic. Historically it was a dance-drama with several dancers taking different roles; today it is performed as a solo, a duet or a group.
Kathakali: The Story Play of Kerala
Kathakali, the story play of Kerala, took shape in the seventeenth century. Its plays, drawn mostly from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are in Malayalam, and the stories have come down in a steady stream over three centuries. Unlike most classical dances it is a theatre of costumed character types, in which make-up tells the audience who each figure is.
- Make-up: Faces are painted by type, with green (pachcha) for noble characters, heroes, kings and gods, and red and black for the evil and fierce.
- Silent actors: The performer never speaks; two singers on stage sing the text, and the story is enacted through facial expression and hand gesture.
- Drums: Three drums accompany it. They are the Chenda, a cylindrical drum played with curved sticks; the barrel-shaped Maddalam; and the hourglass-shaped Idakka.
- Length: A traditional performance begins in the evening and ends at daybreak.
- Kalamandalam style: The dominant style is the one established at the Kerala Kalamandalam.
Mohiniyattam: The Lasya Dance of Kerala
Mohiniyattam, Kerala's second classical form, takes its name from Mohini, the enchantress form of Vishnu. It is a dance of feminine grace that grew out of performances connected with Kerala's temples, and it is traditionally a solo dance performed by women. Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, king of Travancore, was one of its chief architects in the nineteenth century and composed many of its songs.
- Footwork and movement: Gentle, soft and sliding footwork with no heavy steps; the body rises and falls with the torso, and restraint is its hallmark. It follows the lasya style.
- Songs: The songs are in Manipravalam, a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit.
- Percussion and melody: The Idakka is the main percussion, with the mridangam, veena, flute and cymbals.
Mohiniyattam nearly vanished in the colonial period. A series of laws between 1931 and 1938 banned devadasis and dancing in temples, and the dance was revived by the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, who with Mukunda Raja founded the Kerala Kalamandalam; inaugurated in 1930, it brought Kathakali, Kutiyattam and Mohiniyattam back from near-extinction.
Classical Dance Forms of North and East India
Kathak: The Storytellers' Dance of North India
Kathak, the principal dance of northern India, is practised in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. It is believed to come from the Kathakaras, storytellers who recited the epics and the Puranas; it moved into the courts, flowered under Mughal rule, and in the nineteenth century centred on the princely courts of Lucknow, Jaipur and Raigarh. The Mughal years also gave it Urdu ghazals and Persian elements.
- Rhythm: Footwork with bells on the ankles, and fast pirouettes, make it above all a dance of rhythm.
- Recital: It opens with an amad and moves through the thaat, gat nikas, paran and tatkar.
- Songs and instruments: Thumri and other songs are sung to the tabla, pakhawaj and sarangi; the Thumri's link with Kathak grew in the court of Wajid Ali Shah at Lucknow.
- Gharanas: Four schools named after cities: Jaipur, known for technique and fast spins; Banaras, for footwork and stories of Krishna; Lucknow, for grace; and Raigarh, which grew in the court of the king of Raigarh.
Odissi: The Sculpturesque Dance of Odisha
Odissi, the classical dance of Odisha, began as part of temple service by maharis, the female temple servants of the Jagannath temple at Puri. Boys dressed as girls, the gotipuas, later developed a more athletic style. Odissi takes its themes from the lore of Krishna and Radha, with Jayadeva's twelfth-century Gitagovinda given pride of place.
Its technique uses hastas, footwork, gaits and spins, and two stances, the S‑shaped tribhanga and the square chauka, make it look sculpturesque. A recital runs from an invocation through nritta, nritya and natya to moksha, a climax that stands for spiritual release. The dance suffered under colonial rule, when the campaign against temple dancing spread across India. It was remoulded as a theatre art around the middle of the twentieth century, drawing on the living dance and on dance in Odisha's medieval sculpture, painting and literature; the poet Kalicharan Pattanayak is credited with giving it the name Odissi.
Manipuri: The Devotional Dance of Manipur
Manipuri, the dance of Manipur, rests on the Vaishnava faith of the Meiteis of the Manipur valley, and temples are still among its main stages; its theme is devotion, drawn from the lore of Radha and Krishna. It was codified by King Bhagyachandra (r. 1759 to 1798), who adopted Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and it draws on four traditions: Lai Haraoba, Huyen Langlon, Nata Sankirtana and the Raas Leela.
- Restraint: The artist never makes eye contact with the audience; movements are circular and continuous, and facial expression is subdued.
- Two streams: Jagoi is gentle and cholom vigorous, matching lasya and tandava.
- Footwork: It is soft and never audible, unlike that of most Indian dances.
- Pung and cymbals: The pung, a double-headed drum, and cymbals accompany it.
- Revival: In 1919 Rabindranath Tagore, impressed by a Manipuri performance at Sylhet, invited its gurus to teach at Shantiniketan.
- Manipur Dance Academy: The Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy at Imphal, established in 1954, is the premier institution for Manipuri dance and music.
Sankirtana, the ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur, was inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2013.
Sattriya: The Monastic Dance of Assam
Sattriya, the classical form of Assam, is the dance and danced drama developed in the sattras, the Vaishnava monasteries of Assam, since the sixteenth century, when the faith of the saint and reformer Shankaradeva swept the land. It began in the Bhaona, performances of the one-act Ankiya Nat plays written by Shankaradeva and his chief disciple Madhavadeva, and it remains a living tradition of the sattras. Once the art of male monks, it is now performed by men and women alike.
- Grammar: It has an evolved language of hand gesture, footwork, movement and expression, with a repertoire centred on devotion to Krishna.
- Pieces: Ramdani, Chali, Mela Nach and Jhumura are pure dance, and Geetar Nach is expressive.
- Bargeets: These devotional songs, composed by Shankaradeva and Madhavadeva among others in Brajavali, are set to classical ragas.
- Classical status: The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognised Sattriya as one of the eight classical dances on 15 November 2000, and its Sattriya Kendra in Guwahati has worked since July 2008.
Chhau Dance: The Ninth Form in the Ministry of Culture List
Chhau Dance: Masks, Martial Traditions and the UNESCO List
Chhau, the dance of eastern India, is performed in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It blends martial traditions, temple ritual and folk performance, and is often called semi-classical. It enacts episodes from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas and local legend to an ensemble mostly of indigenous drums, and is tied to the spring festival of Chaitra Parva.
- Three styles: Seraikella in Jharkhand, Purulia in West Bengal and Mayurbhanj in Odisha; Seraikella and Purulia use masks, while Mayurbhanj does not.
- No singing: Vocal music is not used, though the melodies draw on Jhumur folk song, devotional Kirtan and Hindustani ragas, played on reed pipes such as the mohuri and shehnai.
- Recognition: The Ministry of Culture describes it with the classical forms; UNESCO inscribed Chhau on its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2010; the Sangeet Natak Akademi opened a Chhau Kendra at Chandankiyari in Jharkhand's Bokaro district on 8 October 2018.
Comparison of the Classical Dances of India: Language, Music and Instruments
Songs, Music and Instruments of Each Classical Dance
The eight classical dances, and Chhau beside them, differ most clearly in their songs, their music and their instruments, and matching questions turn on these details.
| Dance | Songs | Music | Main instruments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bharatanatyam | Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit songs | Carnatic | Mridangam; flute, violin or veena; the nattuvanar's small cymbals |
| Kuchipudi | Telugu songs | Carnatic | Mridangam, cymbals, veena, flute, tanpura |
| Kathakali | Sanskritised Malayalam plays (attakatha), sung by two singers on stage | Classical ragas | Chenda, Maddalam, Idakka |
| Mohiniyattam | Manipravalam songs (Malayalam and Sanskrit) | Carnatic | Idakka, mridangam, veena, flute, cymbals |
| Kathak | Thumri and Urdu ghazals | Hindustani | Tabla, pakhawaj, sarangi |
| Odissi | Odia songs and Jayadeva's Sanskrit Gitagovinda | Odissi music | Mardala, tanpura, flute, manjira |
| Manipuri | Devotional songs on Radha and Krishna | Sankirtana tradition | Pung, cymbals |
| Sattriya | Bargeets in Brajavali, by Shankaradeva and Madhavadeva | Classical ragas | Khol, played with the fingers |
| Chhau | No singing | Jhumur, Kirtan and Hindustani melodies | Dhol, dhumsa, nagada, mohuri, shehnai |
Music and language follow region. The southern forms, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam, use Carnatic music, while Kathak of the north uses Hindustani music; Odissi has its own Odissi music. The Vaishnava forms of the east, Manipuri and Sattriya, are built on devotional song, and Kathakali sets two singers on stage so that its actors can stay silent. Chhau alone uses no singing at all.
Decline and Revival: The Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Classical Dances
Colonial Bans and the Revival of Classical Dance
Most classical dances were once sustained by temples and courts, often by women dedicated to temple service, and colonial rule brought that system under attack. Christian missionaries began an "anti-dance movement" in 1892, the Madras Presidency banned temple dancing in 1910, and laws in Kerala between 1931 and 1938 banned devadasis and dancing in temples. The dances survived because they were reshaped for the public stage and taught in new institutions, from Kalakshetra and the Kerala Kalamandalam to Shantiniketan.
Sangeet Natak Akademi: Structure, Institutions and Heritage Role
The Sangeet Natak Akademi is the apex body for the performing arts in India, set up in 1953 to preserve and promote India's intangible heritage of music, dance and drama. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture; its chairman is appointed by the President of India for five years, and its functions are set down in a Memorandum of Association adopted when it was registered as a society on 11 September 1961.
- Institutions: The Akademi set up the National School of Drama in 1959, which became independent in 1975; the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy in Imphal and the Kathak Kendra in New Delhi are its two dance-teaching constituent units.
- Centres: The Sattriya Kendra in Guwahati, the Kutiyattam Kendra and the Chhau Kendra at Chandankiyari support traditions that need special care.
- Awards: Its Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are the highest national recognition for performing artists.
- Intangible heritage: Since 21 February 2011 the Akademi has been the Ministry of Culture's nodal body for India's nominations to UNESCO's intangible heritage lists. Kutiyattam, India's first element, had been declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in May 2001.
Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions
Each Prelims question is explained option by option, and each Mains question comes with an answer outline.
- UPSC Prelims 2024Which one of the following was the latest inclusion in the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Place each element by its year of inscription on UNESCO's list: Chhau 2010, Kumbh Mela 2017, Durga Puja in Kolkata 2021, Garba of Gujarat 2023. The latest is Garba.
Trap to watch: Chhau and Garba are both dances, so a candidate who remembers only that a dance was inscribed recently can pick (a), though Chhau was the earliest of the four, in 2010.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Chhau dance: Wrong. Inscribed in 2010, the earliest of the four.
- (b) Durga puja: Wrong. Durga Puja in Kolkata was inscribed in 2021.
- (c) Garba dance: Correct. Garba of Gujarat was inscribed in 2023, the latest of the four.
- (d) Kumbh mela: Wrong. Inscribed in 2017.
Answer: (c) Garba dance. Garba (2023) came after Durga Puja (2021), Kumbh Mela (2017) and Chhau (2010).
- UPSC Prelims 2017With reference to Manipuri Sankirtana, consider the following statements:
- It is a song and dance performance.
- Cymbals are the only musical instruments used in the performance.
- It is performed to narrate the life and deeds of Lord Krishna.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Sankirtana is ritual singing, drumming and dancing, so statement 1 is correct. The beat is set by cymbals and the double-headed pung drum, so cymbals are not the only instruments; statement 2 is wrong. Manipur's devotional dance draws its theme from the lore of Radha and Krishna, so statement 3 is correct.
Trap to watch: Cymbals are used in Sankirtana, so 'only' is the word to test.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 2 fails because the pung drum is used along with cymbals.
- (b) 1 and 3 only: Correct. Sankirtana is sung and danced and narrates the deeds of Krishna.
- (c) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Statement 2 is false and statement 1 is true.
- (d) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is also true.
Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only. The pung drum is central, so cymbals are not the only instruments.
- UPSC Prelims 2014With reference to Sattriya, consider the following statements:
- It is a combination of music, dance and drama.
- It is a centuries-old living tradition of the Vaishnavites of Assam.
- It is based on classical Ragas and Talas of devotional songs composed by Tulsidas, Kabir and Mirabai.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against Sattriya's roots in the sattras of Assam.
- Statement 1 is correct, since Sattriya is dance and danced drama with music.
- Statement 2 is correct, since it has lived in the Vaishnava sattras of Assam since the sixteenth century.
- Statement 3 is wrong, since its songs, the bargeets, were composed by Shankaradeva and Madhavadeva, not by Tulsidas, Kabir and Mirabai.
Trap to watch: Tulsidas, Kabir and Mirabai are Bhakti poets, which makes statement 3 sound right.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 2 is also correct; Sattriya is a living tradition of the Vaishnava sattras of Assam.
- (b) 1 and 2 only: Correct. Sattriya is music, dance and drama, and a living Vaishnava tradition of Assam.
- (c) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is false and statement 1 is true.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Sattriya's songs are by Shankaradeva and Madhavadeva, not by Tulsidas, Kabir and Mirabai.
Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only. Sattriya's bargeets are Shankaradeva's and Madhavadeva's, not those of the north Indian poets.
- UPSC Prelims 2014Consider the following pairs:
- Garba : Gujarat
- Mohiniattam : Odisha
- Yakshagana : Karnataka
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Garba is a circle dance from Gujarat, so pair 1 is correct. Mohiniyattam belongs to Kerala, not Odisha, so pair 2 is wrong. Yakshagana is the dance-drama of coastal and western Karnataka, so pair 3 is correct.
Trap to watch: Odisha has its own classical dance, which makes the Mohiniyattam pair look plausible.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Pair 3 is also correct; Yakshagana belongs to Karnataka.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Mohiniyattam is from Kerala, not Odisha.
- (c) 1 and 3 only: Correct. Garba is from Gujarat and Yakshagana from Karnataka.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Pair 2 fails because Mohiniyattam is a dance of Kerala.
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only. Mohiniyattam belongs to Kerala.
- UPSC Prelims 2013In the context of cultural history of India, a pose in dance and dramatics called 'Tribhanga' has been a favourite of Indian artists from ancient times till today. Which one of the following statements best describes this pose?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The tribhanga, the triple bend, is a posture of the body, bending one way at the knees, the other way at the hips and the first way again at the shoulders and neck. Look for the option that describes opposite bends of the body, not expression, gesture or costume.
Trap to watch: Options (c) and (d) describe expression, which sounds like dance but is not a pose.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) One leg is bent and the body is slightly but oppositely curved at waist and neck: Correct. That is the triple bend of knees, hips and neck in alternate directions.
- (b) Facial expressions, hand gestures and make-up are combined to symbolize certain epic or historic characters: Wrong. That is the costumed character-making of dance-drama, as in Kathakali's painted faces, not a pose.
- (c) Movements of body, face and hands are used to express oneself or to tell a story: Wrong. That describes abhinaya and nritya, not a single posture.
- (d) A little smile, slightly curved waist and certain hand gestures are emphasized to express the feelings of love or eroticism: Wrong. It mixes facial expression and the mood of love with one curve, while the tribhanga is defined by three opposite bends.
Answer: (a) One leg is bent and the body is slightly but oppositely curved at waist and neck. The tribhanga is the triple bend of knees, hips and neck in opposite directions.
- UPSC Prelims 2009Consider the following statements:
- The National School of Drama was set up by Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1959.
- The highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer is by electing him its Fellow.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The National School of Drama was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became independent in 1975, so statement 1 is correct. The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is the highest honour the Akademi confers on a living writer, so statement 2 is correct.
Trap to watch: The National School of Drama is independent today, which makes statement 1 look wrong.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 2 is also correct.
- (b) 2 only: Wrong. Statement 1 is also correct; the Akademi set up the National School of Drama in 1959.
- (c) Both 1 and 2: Correct. Both facts hold.
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2: Wrong. Both statements are correct.
Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2. The National School of Drama was set up by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1959, and the Fellowship is the Sahitya Akademi's highest honour.
- UPSC Prelims 1996Which one of the following temples figured in the news regarding the institution of the Devadasis?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The devadasis of Odisha, called maharis, danced in the Jagannath temple at Puri; their ritual dance continued there until the devadasi system was abolished. Of the four temples, only Puri is tied to this institution.
Trap to watch: Khajuraho is famous for its sculpture of dancers, which tempts (c).
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Jagannath temple, Puri: Correct. Its maharis were the devadasis of Odisha, and their dance is a root of Odissi.
- (b) Pasupatinath temple, Kathmandu: Wrong. It is a Shiva temple of Nepal, while the devadasis in the news were the maharis of Odisha.
- (c) Kandariya Mahadeva temple, Khajuraho: Wrong. Khajuraho is known for its sculpture, including carved dancers, not for a living devadasi institution.
- (d) Chausanth Yogini temple, Bheraghat: Wrong. It is a circular shrine of the sixty-four yoginis near Jabalpur, with no devadasi institution.
Answer: (a) Jagannath temple, Puri. The maharis of the Jagannath temple at Puri were Odisha's devadasis.
- UPSC Prelims 1995Bronze icons of Nataraja cast during the Chola period invariably show the deity with
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The Chola Nataraja has four arms, with the main right hand in the abhaya gesture, the upper right holding the damaru, the upper left a flame, and the main left hand in dola hasta.
Trap to watch: Other images of Shiva have more arms, but the Chola bronze has four.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) eight hands: Wrong. The Chola bronze Nataraja has four arms.
- (b) six hands: Wrong. The Chola bronze Nataraja has four arms.
- (c) four hands: Correct. Drum, flame, abhaya and dola hasta account for the four.
- (d) two hands: Wrong. The figure holds the drum and the flame in addition to two gesturing hands.
Answer: (c) four hands. The Chola Nataraja has four arms, two of them holding the damaru and the flame.
- UPSC Mains 2013 GS‑IDiscuss the Tandava dance as recorded in the early Indian inscriptions.
Answer outline
The outline sets out what the question asks, the main arguments, relevant examples and the direction of the conclusion; it is not a full model answer.
Introduction: Define the Tandava as Shiva's vigorous dance, described in the fourth chapter of the Natya Shastra, the Tandava Lakshana, through 108 karanas; set it beside lasya, Parvati's gentle dance.
Body (sub-themes to develop):
- Text: The Tandava Lakshana and its 108 karanas as the building blocks of dance.
- Image: Shiva as Nataraja, with reliefs at Badami and Ellora from around the sixth century and the Chola bronzes of the tenth to twelfth centuries.
- Carving: All 108 karanas on the walls at Chidambaram; 81 on the upper corridor of the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, early eleventh century.
- Inscription: The Thanjavur inscription of 1011 CE, listing over 600 temple employees, among them dance gurus and dancing girls, with their land wages; the inscription suggesting 400 devadasis attached to the temple.
Conclusion: Stone preserved both the grammar of the Tandava and the place of dancers in temple life, the base on which the modern classical forms were rebuilt.
Sources
- Ministry of Culture, Government of India: Dance (official page, archived 2020)
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: About Us
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: Dance
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: Sattriya Kendra
- Sangeet Natak Akademi: Chhau Kendra
- PIB: Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards for 2024 and 2025
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: India, elements on the lists
- NCERT: An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I (Class XI)
- NCERT: Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class VIII), Part I
- NCERT: Curiosity (Class VIII)
- Wikipedia: Indian classical dance
- Wikipedia: Natya Shastra
- Wikipedia: Bharatanatyam
- Wikipedia: Kuchipudi
- Wikipedia: Kathakali
- Wikipedia: Mohiniyattam
- Wikipedia: Kathak
- Wikipedia: Odissi
- Wikipedia: Manipuri dance
- Wikipedia: Sattriya
- Wikipedia: Chhau
- Wikipedia: Nataraja
- Wikipedia: Brihadisvara Temple
- Wikipedia: Kerala Kalamandalam
- Wikipedia: Kalakshetra Foundation
- Wikipedia: Sangeet Natak Akademi
- UPSC: Civil Services Examination question papers
Editorial Disclaimer
This article draws on the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Ministry of Culture, UNESCO, the NCERT textbooks and the other works listed under Sources. Lists of classical dances differ between bodies and scholars; the Akademi's eight is the list used here.
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