Music and Dance: Southern Area

Thus Brahma, the supreme god of Hinduism, patiently explains in the Nāṭyaśāstra the true nature of nāṭya , its universal relevance, aim, and validity (Ghosh 1967, 1:105). The term nāṭya encompasses the three worlds of existence: the worlds of the gods, of mortals, and of antigods and their allies. Brahma himself distilled four different sensory essences from the four Vedas, the holy texts of eternal knowledge from Vedic times (1500–600 b.c.) that give their name to the early period,...