An Exploration of women's performance practices in India

T he ancient Indian mind suffered from no prudery and evinced deep interest in the study of music dance and sex in an    objective spirit. From the Vedic period , a mass of literature was produced on the Natya Shastra and the Kama Shastra which was considered to be of divine origin.  The Natya Shastra, a treatise on dance was compiled by the sage Bharata.  While rehearsing a dance drama he realized that the  lasya  (lyrical) could only be performed by women, whereupon celestial nymphs , the  apsaras , were created to entertain the gods.  Poets have sung of the ravishing loveliness, grace and charm of Apsaras and how they delighted the gods by dancing merrily to the music created by Gandharvas, the celestial singers.  There are numerous sculptures in Indian temples of Apsaras and Gandharvas portraying scenes of music and dance.  The Apsaras were celestial courtesans who offered erotic delights to the  seduced sages and rewarded the heroes on their attaining heaven with supernatural plea