Bharatanatyam is one of the most globally recognised words in Indian dance. Indians say it. Foreigners try to say it. Dance teachers spell it on their school boards. But here is a quick question almost no one stops to ask. Why is it called Bharatanatyam?
There are two theories. Both are useful. One is older. One is more poetic. Both are taught.
What does the name Bharatanatyam actually mean?
Bharatanatyam is a Sanskrit word that combines two ideas: Bharata and Natyam. Natyam means dance, drama, or stylised performance. Bharata has two possible meanings, depending on which theory you follow. Either it refers to Sage Bharata, the legendary author of the Natyashastra (the 2,000-year-old Indian treatise on performance), or it is an acronym made up of three Sanskrit words: Bha (Bhava, emotion), Ra (Raga, melody), and Ta (Tala, rhythm). Both readings are accepted.
Theory 1: Named after Sage Bharata
The Natyashastra, attributed to Sage Bharata Muni and composed somewhere between the second century BCE and second century CE, is the foundational text of Indian performance. It systematises every aspect of dance, drama, music, and theatre, from how to design a stage to how to perform anger, fear, love, and devotion. Many traditional schools (parampara) of Bharatanatyam consider their form a direct living application of the Natyashastra’s principles.
In this reading, the name Bharatanatyam literally means the dance taught by Bharata, or the dance set down in Bharata’s text. It is a tribute to a single sage whose name is woven into the very title of the form.
Theory 2: An acronym for Bhava, Raga, Tala
The second theory is a poetic and pedagogically popular reading. It says the name is made up of the syllables of the four pillars of the form:
- Bha for Bhava (emotion, expression, abhinaya)
- Ra for Raga (melody, music)
- Ta for Tala (rhythm, time)
- Natyam for Natya (dance and drama itself)
This reading is loved by teachers because it doubles as a definition of what a great Bharatanatyam performance must contain. Without genuine emotion, beautiful music, accurate rhythm, and theatrical storytelling, you do not have Bharatanatyam.
Most scholars accept this acronym as a later poetic interpretation rather than the original etymology. But it is so neat and so useful that it is taught everywhere.
What was Bharatanatyam called before?
Here is the surprising part. The name Bharatanatyam itself is relatively recent. For centuries, the dance was known by other names:
- Sadir or Sadir Attam, the most common older name in Tamil regions
- Dasi Attam, the dance of the devadasis (temple women dancers)
- Chinna Melam, referring to the smaller ensemble of musicians associated with the form
The term Bharatanatyam was popularised in the early twentieth century, most notably by the lawyer-musicologist E. Krishna Iyer and the dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale, who founded Kalakshetra in Chennai in 1936. They preferred Bharatanatyam because it placed the form in a Sanskrit and pan-Indian framework, which was useful at a time when Sadir and Dasi Attam carried social stigma due to the colonial-era campaign against the devadasi tradition.
Was the name change controversial?
Yes, and it still is in some scholarly circles. Some critics argue that renaming Sadir as Bharatanatyam erased the contribution of devadasi women and folded the form into a sanitised Brahminical narrative that did not match its actual roots. Others argue that without that renaming and the institutional reform around it, the form may not have survived the social hostility of the early twentieth century at all.
The debate is one of the most fascinating ongoing conversations in Indian classical dance studies.
What did Sage Bharata actually say about dance?
The Natyashastra describes a comprehensive system of stage performance. It outlines:
- The nine rasas (emotional flavours): love, laughter, sorrow, anger, courage, fear, disgust, wonder, and peace
- Karanas: 108 specific dance positions that combine into longer sequences
- Mudras: hand gestures, including the asamyuta hastas (single hand gestures) and samyuta hastas (combined hand gestures)
- Bhumikas: stage types and audience configurations
- Vrittis: styles of performance
- Pravrittis: regional flavours
Bharatanatyam draws on this entire vocabulary, although its modern repertoire (alarippu, jatiswaram, varnam, padam, javali, thillana) was codified later by the four Tanjore brothers in the early nineteenth century.
The short version
Bharatanatyam means either the dance of Bharata (the sage) or the dance of Bhava, Raga, and Tala (emotion, melody, rhythm). Both readings are accepted, both are taught, and both are quietly useful. The name itself is a twentieth-century rebrand of older terms like Sadir and Dasi Attam. The reasons behind that rebrand are themselves a fascinating slice of modern Indian history.
For more, read about Rukmini Devi’s Kalakshetra, and our deep dive on the Natyashastra.