The nāstika (heterodox) schools don’t draw upon the Vedas as the sole primary authoritative text, but may emphasize other traditions of thought. The main nāstika schools are Cārvāka...
Swar or Sur refers to the basic note in an octave. The seven basic notes are shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, shortened to Sa, Ri,...
The third type of sculpture art that Flourished during the Kushana time was at Amaravati and Nagarjunkonda in Andhra Pradesh. The sculptures of Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda are fully...
Natya means drama, Nritta means ‘abstract dance’ and Nritya means ‘interpretative dance.’ Katahakali is a story-play. It involves elaborate dance depicting the stories of the victory of truth...
Karna is a combined movement of the feet and the hands, which, though momentarily static, is a dynamic series of movements which culminates in a specific pose. Natya...
The Rasa-Bhava is the central concept in Indian performing arts such as dance, drama, cinema, literature etc. Bhava means “to become”. Bhava is the state of mind while Rasa is...
Abhinaya is the representational aspect of dance where a text or poem is interpreted by the dancer to evoke “rasa” in the spectators. It deals with the sentiment...
During the Mughal period, and especially under Akbar’s reign, temple music was largely overshadowed by the Darbar Sangeet, in which music was composed mainly to eulogise patrons. The...
Music is as old as our civilization.The presence of music / dance in Indus Valley Civilization is evident from some musical instruments, such as the arched or bow-shaped...
The Gandhara School of art had developed in first century AD along with Mathura School during reign of Kushana emperor Kanishka. Both Shakas and Kushans were patrons of...
The three key elements of Buddhist architecture are Stupas, Viharas and Chaityas. Stupas A stupa refers to a mound-like structure that contains some relic of Buddha or Buddhist...
