Navras in Kathak Dance

The Natya Shastra enumerates nine rasas which are sentiments or emotional states.

The Natya Shastra (the main book written by sage Bharata dealing with theatre and acting) enumerates nine rasas which are sentiments or emotional states. These nine types of sentiments are also used in Kathak and together they cover all kinds of experiences that we can normally experience in our day to day life. Following is a list of all Rasas, their meaning, associated color, associated god or goddesses and my pictures showing you these Navrasas.

The dancers originate Rasa through Bhavas and therefore Rasas have been considered subordinate to Bhavas. The mental state of human being is called Bhava. The artist who is able to produce this mental state swiftly is considered as competent. Each Rasa is associated with a sthayee (permanent) Bhava.