Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi (/kuːtʃiˈpuːdi/) (Telugu: కూచిపూడి నృత్యం) is one of

Kuchipudi
the eight major Indian classical dances.[2] It originates from a
village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.[3]
Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the
ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra.[4][5][6] It developed
as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual
beliefs, like all major classical dances of India.[7]

Evidence of Kuchipudi's existence in an older version are found in

copper inscriptions of the 10th century, and by the 15th century in
texts such as the Machupalli Kaifat.[8][9] Kuchipudi tradition holds
that Tirtha Narayana Yati – a sanyassin of Advaita Vedanta
persuasion,[10] and his disciple, an orphan named Siddhendra
Yogi, founded and systematized the modern version of Kuchipudi
in the 17th century.[11][12][13] Kuchipudi largely developed as a
Krishna-oriented Vaishnavism tradition,[14] and it is known by the
name of Bhagavata Mela in Thanjavur.[8]

The traditional Kuchipudi was performed by all males troupe. A Kuchipudi dancer
dancer in a male role would be in Agnivastra, also known as Native name కూచిపూడి నృత్యం
Bagalbandi, wear a dhoti (a single pleated piece of cloth hanging
Genre Indian classical
down from the waist).[15][16] A dancer in a female role would
dance
wear a Sari with light makeup.[16] The Kuchipudi performance
usually begins with an invocation. Then, each costumed actor is Instrument(s)
Mridangam
introduced, their role stated, and they then perform a short
preliminary dance set to music (dharavu). Next, the performance Cymbals
presents pure dance (nritta).[17] This is followed with by the Veena
expressive part of the performance (nritya), where rhythmic hand
Flute
gestures help convey the story.[17][18] Vocal and instrumental
Carnatic music in the Telugu language accompanies the Tambura
performance.[19] The typical musical instruments in Kuchipudi are Origin Kuchipudi, Krishna
mridangam, cymbals, veena, flute and the tambura.[20] The district, Andhra
popularity of Kuchipudi has grown within India and it is Pradesh
performed worldwide.[21][22]

Nomenclature, orthography and

etymology
Kuchipudi is named after the village in Krishna district of Andhra
Pradesh named Kuchipudi – shortened form of the full name
Kuchelapuram or Kuchilapuri[23] – where it developed.[4][24][25]
The name of village, states Ragini Devi, is itself derived from Kuchipudi dancer performing a
tarangam
Sanskrit Kusilava-puram, which means "the village of actors".[23]
Kusilava is a term found in ancient Sanskrit texts and refers to
"traveling bard, dancer, newsmonger".[26]

History
Kuchipudi, like other classical dance forms in India, traces its roots
to the Sanskrit Natya Shastra, a foundational treatise on the
performing arts.[4][5] Its first complete compilation is dated to
between 200 BCE and 200 CE,[27][28] but estimates vary between
500 BCE and 500 CE.[29] The most studied version of the Natya
Shastra text consists of about 6000 verses structured into 36
chapters.[27][30] 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.[27][31]
Dance and performance arts, states this ancient text,[32] are a form
of expression of spiritual ideas, virtues and the essence of A Kuchipudi hasta (mudra).[1]
scriptures.[33]

The dance-drama tradition in Andhra Pradesh is of ancient origins,

and the region is mentioned in the Natya Shastra. Bharata Muni
credits a graceful movement to Andhra region and discusses it as
Kaishiki vritti. The pre-2nd century CE text calls one raga as
Andhri, that is from Andhra.[34] The Andhri, is related to Gandhari
and Arsabhi, and is discussed in many other 1st millennium
Sanskrit texts.[35] Some, state Bruno Nettle and others, place the
origins of Kuchipudi to 3rd century BCE.[15]

Dance-drama performance arts related to Shaivism, in Telugu-

speaking parts of South India, are evidenced in 10th-century copper
inscriptions, and these were called Brahmana Melas or Brahma
Melas.[8][36] The medieval era dance-drama performance artists
Kuchipudi dancers performing in
were Brahmins.[37][38] This art was likely adopted by the musical
Paris
and dancing Bhakti traditions of Vaishnavism which grew in the
2nd millennium, whose devotees were called Bhagavatulu in
Andhra region and Bhagavatars in Tamil region of south India.[8]
In Andhra, this performance art evolved into Kuchipudi, while in Tamil Nadu it became known as
Bhagavata Mela Nataka.[8] According to Saskia Kersenboom, both the Telugu Kuchipudi and Tamil
Bhagavata Mela are strongly related to the classical Hindu dance tradition of Yakshagana found in
Karnataka, all three involve Carnatic music, but these dance-drama traditions have differences such as in
costumes, structure, interpretation and creative innovations.[15]

According to Manohar Varadpande, the Kuchipudi dance emerged in the late 13th century, when Ganga
rulers from Kalinga were patrons of performance arts based on the 12th-century Sanskrit scholar Jayadeva,
particularly the Gita Govinda.[4] This royal sponsorship, states Varadpande, encouraged many poets and
dance-drama troupes to adopt Radha-Krishna themes into the then prevailing versions of classical
Kuchipudi.[4] These were regionally called Vaishnava Bhagavatulu.[4]
 The modern version of Kuchipudi is attributed to Tirtha Narayanayati, a
17th-century Telugu sanyasin of Advaita Vedanta persuasion and
particularly his disciple, a Telugu Brahmin[15] orphan named Sidhyendra
Yogi.[40][39][41][note 1] Tirtha Narayanayati authored Sri Krishna Leela
Tarangini and introduced sequences of rhythmic dance syllables at the
end of the cantos, he wrote this work as a libretto for a dance-drama.[10]
Narayanayati lived for a while in the Tanjore district and presented the
dance-drama in the Tanjore temple.[10]

Narayanayati's disciple, Sidhyendra Yogi, followed up with another play,

the Parijatapaharana,[note 2] more commonly known as the Bhama
Kalapam.[42][note 3] When Sidhyendra Yogi finished the play, he had
trouble finding suitable performers.[40][43] So he went to Kuchelapuram,
A portrait of Siddhendra Yogi,
the village of his wife's family and present-day Kuchipudi, where he
to whom modern Kuchipudi is
enlisted a group of young Brahmin boys to perform the play.[40][43][46]
traditionally attributed.[39]
According to the tradition, Sidhyendra requested and the villagers agreed
to perform the play once a year, and this came to be known as
Kuchipudi.[40][43][46]

Late medieval period

Kuchipudi enjoyed support from medieval era rulers.[9] Copper inscriptions suggest that the dance-drama
was seen by the royalty and was influential by 1502 and through the late 16th century.[47][9] The court
records of the Vijayanagara Empire – known for its patronage of the arts – indicate that drama-dance
troupes of Bhagavatas from Kuchipudi village performed at the royal court.[9] However, various historical
inscriptions often indicate that this dance form can be tracked back to the first century BCE.[48]

The region saw wars and political turmoil with Islamic invasions and the formation of Deccan Sultanates in
the 16th century.[49] With the fall of Vijayanagara Empire and the destruction of temples and Deccan cities
by the Muslim army around 1565, musicians and dance-drama artists migrated south, and Tanjore kingdom
records suggest some 500 such Kuchipudi artist families arrived from Andhra, were welcomed and granted
land by the Hindu king Achyutappa Nayak, a settlement that grew to become modern Melattur near
Tanjore (also called Thanjavur).[9] Not everyone left the old Andhra village of Kuchipudi, and those
remaining became the sole custodians of its tradition in Andhra.[9]

Kuchipudi declined and was a dying art in 17th-century Andhra,[49] but in 1678, the last Shia Muslim
Sultan of Golkonda, Abul Hasan Tana Shah, saw a Kuchipudi performance and was so pleased that he
granted the dancers lands around the Kuchipudi village, with the stipulation that they continue the dance-
drama.[43][46] The Shia Sultanate was overthrown in 1687 by the Sunni Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.[49]
In order to regulate public and private morals, as well as end un-Islamic practices,[50] Aurangzeb banned
public performances of all music and dance arts, along with ordering the confiscation and destruction of
musical instruments in Indian subcontinent under control of his Mughal Empire.[51][52]

Colonial rule period

After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire collapsed, Hindu rebellion sprouted in many
parts of India, including the Deccan region.[53] In the second half of the 18th century, during this period of
political turmoil, the colonial Europeans arrived, the Madras Presidency was formed by the East Indian
Company officials and became part of the British Empire.[54] Andhra was part of the Madras Presidency.
During the colonial era, Hindu arts and traditions such as dance-drama
were ridiculed. Christian missionaries and British officials stereotyped and
denigrated dancers, calling Indian classical dances as evidence of a
tradition of "harlots, debased erotic culture, slavery to idols and priests".
Christian missionaries launched the "anti-dance movement" in 1892, to
ban all such dance forms.[55][56][57] The anti-dance camp accused the
various classical Indian dance forms as a front for prostitution, while
revivalists questioned the constructed histories by the colonial
writers.[58][59]

In 1910, the Madras Presidency of the British Empire altogether banned

temple dancing.[60] Kuchipudi, which was traditionally staged at night on
a stage attached to a Hindu temple,[9] was impacted and like all classical
Indian dances declined during the colonial rule period.[61]

After the ban, many Indians protested against the caricature and cultural A Kuchipudi dance in
discrimination, launching their efforts to preserve and reinvigorate their progress.
culture.[55][62][63] Due to these efforts from 1920s onwards, the classical
Indian dances witnessed a period of renaissance.[61] Vedantam
Lakshminarayana Sastri (1886–1956) was the influential figure who led the effort to save, reconstruct and
revive Kuchipudi performance art. Sastri worked closely with other revivalists, between 1920 and 1950,
particularly Balasaraswati and others determined to save and revive Bharatanatyam.[64][65]

Modern period

The three influential figures in Kuchipudi, during the first half of twentieth century, were Vedantam
Lakshminarayana Sastri, Vempati Venkatanarayana Sastri and Chinta Venkataramayya.[66] Sastri focused
on reviving and relaunching Kuchipudi after classical Hindu dances came under sustained ridicule and
political degradation in the British Raj, while Venkataramayya was influential in productions for public
performances and developing specialized forms of Yakshagana – another classical Indian dance, and
Kuchipudi.[66] Sastri is also remembered for encouraging and teaching Indian women to dance Kuchipudi
as solo performers and in teams, as well as working with artists of other classical dances such as the
Bharatanatyam that enabled the sharing and cross flow of ideas.[66] Vempati Venkatanarayana Sastri was
the guru of Sastri, taught him Kuchipudi, and was a key figure in helping preserve Kuchipudi.[66] The
historic All India Dance Seminar, organized by the national arts organization Sangeet Natak Akademi in
1958, thrust Kuchipudi to the national stage.[67]

Some Western dancers joined the Indians in preserving dance. The American dancer Esther Sherman, for
example, moved to India in 1930, learnt Indian classical dances, changed her name to Ragini Devi, and
joined the movement to save and revive classical Indian dances.[68] Her daughter Indrani Bajpai (Indrani
Rahman) learnt and became a celebrated Kuchipudi dancer.[69] The public performances of Kuchipudi by
Indrani Rahman and Yamini Krishnamurti outside of Andhra region, created wider enthusiasm and more
interest through new students and the expansion of Kuchipudi as a creative performance art both within
India and internationally.[67] The latter half of the twentieth century was dominated by the Kuchipudi
school of Vempati Chinna Satyam, whose efforts to further codify the modern repertoire earned him
multiple accolades, including the Padma Bhushan.

Some of the Indian movie actresses such as Hema Malini started their career as a Kuchipudi and
Bharatanatyam dancer.[70] Kuchipudi performances have now spread world-wide.[67]
The largest group performance with a total of 6,117 dancers in Vijayawada got into the Guinness World
Records[71]

Repertoire
Kuchipudi is a team performance, with roots in Hindu religious
festivals.[7] The drama-dance involves extensive stage movements
and exacting footwork, wherein the underlying drama is mimed by
expressive gestures of hand (mudras), eye and face
movements.[72][14] The expressive style is through a sign language
that follows the classical pan-Indian Sanskrit texts such as Natya
Shastra, Abhinaya Darpana and Nrityararnavali.[7][18][73] The
dance is accompanied with Carnatic music, while the recital is in
Telugu language.[7][74] Just like the Carnatic music style,
Kuchipudi shares many postures and expressive gestures with
Bharatanatyam, such as the Ardhamandali (half seating position or
a partial squat, legs bent or knees flexed out).[73] However, there
are important differences, such as Bharatanatyam as a Hindu temple
tradition trending towards geometric perfection and the spiritual,
while Kuchipudi as a Hindu festival tradition trending towards
more sensual supple and the folksy.[72][75]

Traditionally the traveling dance troupe consisted entirely of men A dancer in a costume, an
[15]
(often Brahmins ), who moved from village to village, and expressive part of a Kuchipudi
[9]
performed on a stage set next to a Hindu temple. The male artists performance.
would dress up and act out the female role in a drama performed by
these traveling troupes.[76] In modern times, Kuchipudi has
diversified, women have joined Kuchipudi dance, outnumber male artists, and are among its most
celebrated artists.[7][15][77] In some cases now, it is the Kuchipudi girl artists who dress up and act out the
role of boys.[15]

The repertoire of Kuchipudi, like all major classical Indian dance forms, follows the three categories of
performance in the ancient Hindu text Natya Shastra. These are Nritta, Nritya and Natya.[73][78]

The Nritta performance is abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance.[79][80] The viewer
is presented with pure movement in Nritta, wherein the emphasis is the beauty in motion,
form, speed, range and pattern. This part of the repertoire has no interpretative aspect, no
telling of story. It is a technical performance, and aims to engage the senses (prakriti) of the
audience.[81]
The Nritya is slower and expressive aspect of the dance that attempts to communicate
feelings, storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions.[79][80] In a
nritya, the dance-acting expands to include silent expression of words through gestures and
body motion set to musical notes. The Kuchipudi actor articulates a story (particularly of
Krishna) or a spiritual message. This part of a repertoire is more than sensory enjoyment, it
aims to engage the emotions and mind of the viewer.[81]
The Natyam is a play, typically a team performance, but can be acted out by a solo performer
where the dancer uses certain standardized body movements to indicate a new character in
the underlying story. A Natya incorporates the elements of a Nritya.[80] Kuchipudi, in its
 history relied on a team of dance-actors, while in modern times Kuchipudi productions
include solo or duo performances.[15]

Sequence

A complete Kuchipudi show sequence always consists of nritta and nritya in solo or group performance,
but when the underlying text is a play, it may include a natya. The nritta or pure abstract dance parts of
Kuchipudi, states Reginald Massey, may include parts such as darus, jatis, jatiswarams, tirmanas and
tillanas.[82] The nritya or expressive performance in Kuchipudi includes padams, varnams, shabdams and
shlokas.[82]

A Kuchipudi performance traditionally is a night performance,[83] when rural families return from their
farms and are free of their daily work. It has been performed in or next to a Hindu temple, and the stage lit
by the yellow lights of castor oil burning torches.[83][84] The dance-drama begins with an invocation
(melavimpu, puvaranga). This may be an on stage prayer to Ganesha, the Hindu god of good beginnings,
or may be an invocation expressing reverence to various Hindu gods, goddesses, earth, or one's guru
(teacher).[72][84][85]

The conductor of the performance enters and plants an "Indra's banner" staff,[83] then introduces all the
actors and the characters they play, who are revealed behind a curtain, and when each actor arrives, colored
resin is thrown into the flame of one or more torches for dramatic color effects and audience's
attention.[83][84] Each actor performs a short dance called the Pravesa Daru[note 4] accompanied by a short
musical piece, as the vocalist describes his or her role.[84] The conductor is typically present throughout the
performance, on the stage, explains the play, talks and humors the audience.[83]

After the actors have been introduced, the nritta part of the Kuchipudi performance starts. The actors
present a pure dance (jatis or jatiswarams), performed rhythmically to a musical raga, and these are called
Sollakath or Patakshara.[73][86] A basic unit of dance in Kuchipudi is called a adugu (or adugulu), and
these correspond to the karana in Natya Shastra.[87] Each basic unit combines hand and foot movement
into a harmonious sthana (posture) and chari (gait), that visually appeals to the audience wherever he or
may be sitting.[87] Each dance unit, according to the ancient text, is best performed to certain recitation of
mnemonic syllables and musical beat.[87] A series of karana form a jati, formalized originally as an oral
tradition through Sanskrit mnemonics, later written, and these form the foundation of what is performed in
nritta sequence of Kuchipudi.[88]

Thereafter comes the nritya, the expressive part called abhinaya, and this is the heart of the play.[89] The
actor-dancer uses hand mudras and facial expressions inspired by the sign language in ancient Sanskrit
texts, with an exacting footwork, to communicate the underlying story to the audience.[89] A solo play or
solo part of the performance is called a Shabdam, and this may be set to a poem, a verse or a prose.[73][21]
A varnam combines dance with mime in order to draw out and express the rasa (emotional taste), and this
can be solo or group. Parts set to poetry that are love lyrics or express deeper sentiments are called a
padam, and this part constitutes expressing the emotional, the allegorical and the spiritual aspects of the
play.[90][91]

Kavutvams are a feature of the performance that is distinctive to Kuchipudi. These are performed either as
nritta or nritya, to different talas, wherein the dancer adds acrobatics to the complexity of presentation. For
example, the dancer may perform the footwork, rhythmically to music, while balancing a series of pots on
his or her head, and then add burning Diya (lamp) in both hands, as the show goes on.[92] Some artists dip
their foot on a wet ink pad, then dance rhythmically on a blank white piece of paper, thus painting it;
alternatively, the troupe places coloured rice powder on floor and on top the white piece of paper, then
dances the musical composition on it, their weight and steps causing the pigment to stick.[93] At the end of
the performance, the artist shows the audience the nature scenery or bird or flower or Ganesha or
something that results.[93] A Mayura Kavutvam dance produces a painting of a peacock, a Vinayaka
Kavutvam of Ganesha, a Simhanandi Kavutvam yields the painting of a lion, each set to a certain classical
composition and beat, for instance.[93]

Costumes

The traditional Kuchipudi was performed by all males troupe. A dancer in a male role would be in
Angavastra, also known as Bagalbandi, wear a dhoti (a single pleated piece of cloth hanging down from
the waist).[15][16] A dancer in a female role would wear a Sari with light makeup.[16]

Modern productions retain the male dress, but are more elaborate and Bharatanatyam-like for the female
roles. Women artists wear a brilliantly colourful Sari (or a body fitting dress) with a pleated fan stitched in
front to help highlight the exacting footwork.[16] The end of the wrapped Sari is held fast under a light
metallic (golden or brass) belt at waist. A Kuchipudi artist braids her hair somewhat differently than a
Bharatanatyam artist, to reflect the regional traditions, yet wearing flowers are common. Both have
symbolic elements embedded in their hair and face jewelry, such as the Vedic symbolisms for the sun and
the moon, the soul and the nature, and she sometimes sets her hairdo in the tribhuvana style which
represents the three worlds.[16] Her jewelry may include hair jewelry, ear, nose, armlets, necklaces and
often a leather anklet piece with little bells (gajjelu or ghungroo).[15] The forehead has a round red bindi or
a symmetric tillaka, while the eyes are typically ringed with black collyrium to ease the viewing of
expressions by the audience.[72]

Some special Kuchipudi plays may include unusual costumes and theatrics, such
as round bottom water pot balanced on the head, dancing with gymnastics or
stilt athletics.[84] Other plays may include wing props, a transparent head sheet,
or peacock feathered crown to identify the actor playing Krishna.[84]

Musical instruments

Musical instruments used in Kuchipudi are cymbals, mridangam, violin,

thambura, flute. The Kuchipudi performance is led by a conductor (chief
musician) called the Sutradhara or Nattuvanar, who typically keeps the beat
using cymbals and also recites the musical syllables; the conductor may also sing Kuchipudi costumes
out the story or spiritual message being enacted, or this may be a role of a
separate vocalist or occasionally the dancer-actors themselves.[15][16][20] The
Kuchipudi orchestra ensemble includes a drummer (mridangam), a clarinetist and a violinist.[15][14]
Depending on the legend being danced out, other musicians such as a flutist may be present.[94]

Styles

Kuchipudi has several regional banis (styles), which developed because of the uniqueness and creativity of
gurus (teachers).[95] This openness and flexibility has been a historic tradition in Indian dance culture, and
is traceable to early times in Kuchipudi as the Margi and Desi styles in the text Nrittaratnavali of Jaya
Senapati.[96][note 5] According to Senapati, the Desi styles referred to one that incorporated innovations to
the conservative Margi styles.[96] Senapati lists examples of each. For Margi styles, he describes Vedayata,
Veddangam, Bommalata, Perani, Chindu, Bahurupam, Pagativeshalu and others; while for Desi styles,
Senapati describes Rasaka, Charchari, Bhandika, Kollata and others.[96] Some of these styles are
discernible in Warangal sculptures of the 13th century.[101]

The dance styles are based on the standard treatises, Abhinaya Darpana and Bharatarnava of
Nandikeswara, which is sub-divided into Nattuva Mala and Natya Mala. Nattuva Mala is of two types —
the Puja dance performed on the Balipitha in the temple and the Kalika dance performed in a Kalyana
Mandapam. Natya Mala is of three kinds — ritual dance for gods, Kalika dance for intellectuals and
Bhagavatam for common place.

Major Kuchipudi dramas

The most popular dance-drama is Bhama Kalapam of Sidhyendra
Yogi.[21][102] Narayana Teertha composed the Krishna Lila
Tarangini, a story of Krishna's life beginning from his birth to his
marriage to Rukmini.[42] Ramaiah Sastri, inspired by the Bhama
Kalapam, wrote the Golla Kalapam, which portrays the theme of
an ethical satirical conversation between a Gopi and a
Brahmin.[103] Other commonly performed plays are the dance-
songs (kritis) of Thyagaraja, and the 700 surviving padams out of
4500 composed by Kshetrayya of Movva.[104] A Kuchipudi dancer performing at
IIM Bangalore
Traditional compositions that have been internationally performed
by Kuchipudi artists, particularly among Telugu diaspora
communities, include Srinivasa Kalyanam, Rukmini Kalyanam
(marriage of Krishna and Rukmini), Sakuntalam Bhamakalpam, Hara Vilasam, Prahlada Charitram (Holi
festival-related story), Usha Parinayam, Sasirekha Parinayam, Rama Natakam (probably the oldest play),
Mohini Rukmangada, Chamundeswari Sabda, Ardhanareeswaram Sabda and Perini Thandavam.[21][22]

Schools and training centers

Kuchipudi training, as with all major classical Indian arts, have traditionally begun at a young age. The
training includes physical exercises, theory, demonstration lessons and a lot of practice. The physical
exercises range from yoga to special exercises to develop a supple body and flexibility in leg muscles,
lower body, core, arms, shoulders and neck. Some examples of special exercises, state Kothari and
Pasricha, are Dandemu, Chakradandemu, Ekapada, Gunjeelu, Kailsamu, Kappilu and Moggalu.[105]
They are educated in Sanskrit and Telugu. They must also learn music, literature and become vocalists.[106]
Training has expanded from within traditional families to anyone across the world due to its
popularization.[107]

See also
Vilasini Natyam
Andhra Natyam
Perini Sivatandavam
 Bharatanatyam

Notes
1. His name is sometimes spelled Siddhendra Yogi.[15]
2. Parijatapaharana means "The Stealing of the Parijata Flower".
3. There are three versions of the story. In the first, Lord Krishna appears before Sidhyendra
and promises moksha if he told this love epic.[40][43] In another, Sidhyendra promises
Krishna to dedicate his life to bhakti if his life was saved during a dangerous river-
crossing.[44] In the third, Sidhyendra was simply inspired by his devotion and love for God to
compose the work.[45] The Parijatapaharana tells the story of how Rukmini asked Krishna to
get her the Parijata tree from the garden of the god Indra and Satyabhama's jealousy as a
result.
4. This is called Dhruva in the ancient text Natya Shastra, which explains its purpose as 'form
an emotional connection between the actor and the audience'.[83]
5. Margi and Deshi styles are found in other classical Hindu dances as well, with Margi being
those that aim to uplift thoughts, imagination or devotional, focus on spiritual ideas, while
Deshi are festive, folksy, focus on celebration and entertainment.[97][98][99] According to
Kothari and Pasricha, the styles are reflected in the adugulu or the basic building blocks of
the dance in Kuchipudi.[100]

References
1. Sunil Kothari & Avinash Pasricha 2001, p. 117.
2. Williams 2004, pp. 83–84, the other major classical Indian dances are: Kathak, Odissi,
Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Chhau, Satriya, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam..
3. " 'Art has to be nurtured to sustain' " (http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/dance/%E2%8
0%98Art-has-to-be-nurtured-to-sustain%E2%80%99/article16993784.ece). The Hindu.
Retrieved 5 April 2017.
4. Manohar Laxman Varadpande (1982). Krishna Theatre in India (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=TaF603WEv4IC). Abhinav Publications. p. 133. ISBN 978-81-7017-151-5.
5. Ragini Devi 1990, pp. 60–68.
6. Sunil Kothari & Avinash Pasricha 2001, pp. 43–46, 80 footnote 8.
7. James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&pg=PA376). The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 376–
377. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
8. Reginald Massey 2004, pp. 79–81.
9. Ragini Devi 1990, pp. 67–68.
10. Krishna Chaitanya (1987), "Arts of India.", pages.74
11. Ragini Devi 1990, p. 73.
12. Banham, edited by James R. Brandon ; advisory editor, Martin (1993). The Cambridge guide
to Asian theatre (https://books.google.com/books?id=ttnH5W9qoBAC) (Pbk. ed.).
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-521-58822-5.
{{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
13. Sunil Kothari & Avinash Pasricha 2001.
14. Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann & Phillip B. Zarrilli 1993, p. 173.
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External links
Kuchipudi Academies in India (http://www.narthaki.com/kuchipudi/kuch1ai.htm), Narthaki

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