Aramandi, adavu, abhinaya, margam, arangetram, salangai, nattuvangam — Bharatanatyam comes with a vocabulary that can bewilder new families. A plain-English glossary of the terms you will actually hear in class.
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New Bharatanatyam families often describe the same experience: the first parents' meeting is conducted in a language they do not speak. The teacher mentions the child's aramandi, says she will start korvais soon, notes that the salangai pooja might be next year, and refers to the margam. Everyone nods.
This glossary is for that parent, and for students who have been dancing for a while and quietly never asked. Terms are grouped by what they describe rather than alphabetically, because the meanings make much more sense in relation to each other.
The Art Itself
Bharatanatyam — The classical dance form of Tamil Nadu. The name is popularly explained as combining *bha* (bhava, expression), *ra* (raga, melody), *ta* (tala, rhythm) and *natyam* (dance). It is also read as the *natyam* set out by Bharata Muni.
Natyashastra — The ancient Sanskrit treatise on drama, dance and music attributed to the sage Bharata Muni, and the theoretical foundation of all Indian classical performing arts.
Nataraja — Shiva as the lord of dance, depicted in the ring of fire performing the cosmic dance. The presiding image of Bharatanatyam; most studios keep a Nataraja idol, and performances begin with obeisance to it.
Nritta — Pure dance: rhythm and form with no narrative meaning. The body as a percussion instrument.
Nritya — Expressive dance: movement that carries meaning and interprets a text.
Natya — Dance with full dramatic and theatrical dimension.
Tandava — The vigorous, powerful aspect of dance, associated with Shiva.
Lasya — The graceful, lyrical, gentle aspect of dance. Every dancer trains in both tandava and lasya.
Posture and Movement
Aramandi (also ardhamandali) — The half-seated basic posture: knees bent and turned outward, thighs open, spine erect. Almost all Bharatanatyam is performed in it, and building the endurance to hold it is the central physical project of early training.
Muzhumandi — The full-seated position, knees fully bent and close to the floor. Physically the most demanding posture in the form.
Samapadam — Standing straight with feet together; the neutral starting position.
Adavu — A basic unit of movement: a fixed combination of footwork, leg, hand and posture executed to a rhythmic pattern. The alphabet of Bharatanatyam. Grouped into families — tatta (flat-foot strikes), natta (stretched leg), visharu or kudittamettu (jump-and-stamp), tattimetti (toe-and-heel), mandi (low seated), sarukkal (gliding) and teermanam (concluding phrases). Explained fully in our guide to the adavus.
Korvai — A sequence of adavus strung together into a longer phrase. The step between knowing units and dancing repertoire.
Teermanam — A concluding rhythmic cadence that resolves a phrase emphatically onto the first beat of the cycle.
Utplavana — Jumps and leaps.
Bhramari — Turns and spins.
Chari — Movements that travel across the floor.
Namaskaram — The traditional salutation performed at the beginning and end of practice, offering respect to the earth, the guru, and the divine.
Hands, Face and Expression
Hasta or mudra — Hand gesture. The codified hand positions of Bharatanatyam, each with defined form and multiple possible meanings. Asamyuta hasta are single-hand gestures; samyuta hasta use both hands together. Covered in our beginner's guide to mudras.
Pataka, Tripataka, Alapadma, Mrigashirsha, Katakamukha — Names of individual mudras. There are dozens; students learn the core set early and the meanings accumulate over years.
Abhinaya — Expression; the art of conveying meaning and emotion. Divided into four: angika (through the body), vachika (through word and song), aharya (through costume and make-up) and sattvika (through genuine inner feeling).
Rasa — An essential emotional flavour conveyed to an audience. Bhava — the emotion the performer expresses. Bhava is cause; rasa is effect.
Navarasa — The nine rasas: shringara (love), hasya (mirth), karuna (compassion), raudra (anger), veera (heroism), bhayanaka (fear), bibhatsa (disgust), adbhuta (wonder) and shanta (peace). Explained in our guide to the navarasa.
Sanchari bhava — The elaboration of a single emotional idea through many small variations, often applied to one line of lyric.
Drishti bheda — The codified eye movements. Bharatanatyam trains the eyes as a discipline of their own, because they carry most of the expressive weight.
Shiro bheda and griva bheda — Head movements and neck movements respectively, likewise codified.
Rhythm and Music
Tala — The rhythmic cycle: a fixed number of beats in a repeating pattern, marked physically with claps, finger counts and waves.
Adi tala — The most common tala in Bharatanatyam; an eight-beat cycle grouped four-two-two.
Sama — The first beat of the cycle, the reference point that phrases resolve onto.
Laya — Tempo. Vilamba (slow), madhyama (medium) and drita (fast) are the three speeds every adavu is practised at.
Sollukattu (also vaaythari) — The spoken rhythmic syllables — "tai ya tai hi," "ta tai tai tat" — used to teach and recite rhythm. Drum-language, carrying no lexical meaning.
Jathi — A composed rhythmic passage of pure nritta.
Nattuvangam — The practice of conducting a performance by reciting sollukattu while keeping tala on cymbals. The person who does it is the nattuvanar, and they lead both dancer and orchestra. In class, done with a wooden block (tattukazhi) struck with a stick.
Raga — The melodic framework of a composition: a defined set of notes with characteristic phrases and emotional colour.
Mridangam — The principal double-headed drum of Carnatic music, and the main percussion in a Bharatanatyam ensemble.
All of this is set out at greater length in our guide to Bharatanatyam music, talas and nattuvangam.
The Repertoire
Margam — The traditional sequence of items in a full recital, structured largely by the nineteenth-century Thanjavur Quartet. It progresses from pure rhythm through deep expression and back to rhythmic brilliance.
Pushpanjali — An opening item; an offering of flowers.
Alarippu — Usually the first item a student learns. Almost pure nritta, set to rhythmic syllables, it "blossoms" the body open from stillness.
Jatiswaram — Pure nritta set to musical notes (*swaras*), with melody but no lyrics. Where rhythmic and melodic coordination is built.
Shabdam — The first item with lyrics, mixing nritta and expression.
Varnam — The centrepiece of a recital: the longest and most demanding item, combining intricate rhythmic passages with sustained interpretation of a text. Often half an hour or more.
Padam — A slow, expressive, lyric-driven item where abhinaya matters far more than footwork.
Javali — A shorter, lighter expressive piece, often on a romantic theme.
Thillana — The fast, joyful, rhythmically brilliant item that closes a recital.
Mangalam — The concluding item; a final blessing.
Costume, Objects and Milestones
Salangai (Kannada gejje, Hindi ghungroo) — The ankle bells. Functionally the dancer's instrument, since they make the footwork audible.
Salangai pooja (Gejje Pooje) — The ceremony in which a student formally receives and first wears their bells, once the guru judges their footwork ready. Explained in our guide for parents.
Arangetram — The formal solo debut: a full margam performed with live musicians before an audience, marking the completion of foundational training. Years beyond the salangai pooja. See our complete arangetram guide.
Oddiyanam — The ornamental waist belt.
Nethi chutti — The head ornament worn along the parting, flanked by surya (sun) and chandra (moon).
Addigai and jhumka — The close-fitting necklace and the bell-shaped earrings.
Alta — The red dye applied to palms, fingertips and the soles and edges of the feet, which makes the hands and footwork more visible on stage.
Dhavani — The shoulder drape of the costume. Our costume and jewellery guide covers all of this in practical detail.
People and Tradition
Guru — The teacher, in the full traditional sense: not merely an instructor but the transmitter of a lineage.
Shishya — The student. Guru-shishya parampara — the tradition of transmission from teacher to student, and the framework within which classical arts have been passed down.
Guru dakshina — The offering of respect and gratitude made to a teacher.
Sampradaya or bani — A stylistic school or lineage. Different banis — Pandanallur, Vazhuvoor, Thanjavur, Kalakshetra and others — differ in emphasis, repertoire and aesthetic. Nrithyakshetra teaches in the Kalakshetra tradition, the style shaped by Rukmini Devi Arundale at the institution she founded in Madras in 1936.
Rukmini Devi Arundale — The reformer central to the twentieth-century revival of Bharatanatyam and founder of Kalakshetra.
Thanjavur Quartet — Four nineteenth-century brothers, nattuvanars, whose compositions and structuring gave the modern margam its form.
Devadasi — Historically, women dedicated to temple service who were the custodians of the dance tradition for centuries before the twentieth-century revival moved it to the concert stage.
A Closing Note
None of this needs memorising. Students absorb the vocabulary naturally over the first year or two, in the way anyone learns the jargon of a craft they practise. This glossary is simply here so that a parent sitting in a first meeting, or a student who has nodded along for three terms, can look something up.
If a term you have heard in class is missing, do ask your teacher — the willingness to explain the vocabulary is a fair test of a good one.
At Nrithyakshetra in HSR Layout, Bangalore, we teach classical Bharatanatyam in the Kalakshetra tradition to children from age five, beginners of any age, and adults, alongside a Sanskrit shlokas programme. Our class programmes are here, live online classes are available for students elsewhere, and you are welcome to get in touch with any question — including the ones you feel you should already know the answer to.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Bharatanatyam mean?
The name is commonly explained as combining bha (bhava, expression), ra (raga, melody), ta (tala, rhythm) and natyam (dance) — the union of expression, melody and rhythm in dance. It is also read as the natyam described by Bharata Muni, author of the Natyashastra.
What is aramandi in Bharatanatyam?
Aramandi, also called ardhamandali, is the half-seated basic posture of Bharatanatyam — knees bent and turned outward, thighs rotated open, spine erect. Almost all movement in the form is performed in or from this position, and building the strength to hold it is a core aim of early training.
What is the difference between an adavu and an item?
An adavu is a basic unit of movement — the alphabet of the form. An item is a complete choreographed composition performed on stage, such as an Alarippu or Varnam, built from many adavus strung together.
What is a margam?
The margam is the traditional sequence of items in a full Bharatanatyam recital, established largely by the nineteenth-century Thanjavur Quartet. It typically runs Pushpanjali or Alarippu, Jatiswaram, Shabdam, Varnam, Padam, Javali, Thillana, and Mangalam, progressing from pure rhythm through expression and back to rhythmic brilliance.
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