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History

The theoretical foundations of dance Bharatanatyam are found first in Natya Shastra, a Sanskrit text of performance arts and later in a Tamil text called Kootha nool taken from Tholkappiyam (250 BCE).

Natya Shastra is attributed to the ancient scholar Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 500 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. Richmond et al. estimate the Natasutras to have been composed around 600 BCE. The most studied version of the Natya Shastra text consists of about 6000 verses structured into 36 chapters. The text, states Natalia Lidova, describes the theory of Tāṇḍava dance (Shiva), the theory of rasa, of bhāva, expression, gestures, acting techniques, basic steps, standing postures—all of which are part of Indian classical dances. Dance and performance arts, states this text, are a form of expression of spiritual ideas, virtues and the essence of scriptures.

Historical references to dance are found in the Tamil epics Silappatikaram (c. 2nd century CE) and Manimegalai (c. 6th century). The ancient text Silappatikaram, includes a story of a dancing girl named Madhavi; it describes the dance training regimen called Arangatrau Kathai of Madhavi in verses 113 through 159. The carvings in Kanchipuram's Shiva temple that have been dated to 6th to 9th century CE suggest dance was a well-developed performance art by about the mid 1st millennium CE.

A famous example of illustrative sculpture is in the southern gateway of the Chidambaram temple (≈12th century) dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, where 108 poses, described as karanas in the Natya Shastra, are carved in stone.

Bharatanatyam shares the dance poses of many ancient Shiva sculptures in Hindu temples. The Cave 1 of the Badami cave temples, dated to the 7th century, portrays the Tandava -dancing Shiva as Nataraja. The image, 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, has 18 arms in a form that expresses the dance positions arranged in a geometric pattern. The arms of Shiva express mudras (symbolic hand gestures), that are used in Bharatanatyam.