Shovana Narayan decodes Kathak’s roots in stone

Veteran Kathak exponent Shovana Narayan has turned to temple walls and museum sculptures to trace the roots of dance in her new book, ‘Speaking Sculptures: Karanas in Kathak’.

The book explores whether the 108 karanas described in Bharata’s Natyashastra still survive in contemporary Kathak. Instead of viewing ancient temple carvings as mere decoration, Narayan treats them as repositories of movement — poses frozen in stone that may capture dance sequences performed centuries ago.

“The next time you walk through a museum or pause before the weathered sculptures of an ancient temple, look closely at the dancers carved into pillars, ceilings, and walls,” she writes. “What appears to be an elegant pose could have been caught in the middle of a movement from a dance performed centuries ago.”

Through research and analysis, Narayan examines the connection between sculpture and performance, asking if the grammar of movement codified in the Natyashastra continues to live in Kathak today.

With Speaking Sculptures, the dancer-scholar aims to get audiences to see heritage art not just as static forms, but as records of India’s living dance traditions.