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Since time immemorial, Bharata Natya is acclaimed as a supreme art in India. If we examine this great art, we understand the difficult practice or 'Sadhana' of those artists who have sacrified their lives for this dance art. In ancient times, there was a tremendous encouragement and honour for this art and this we can infer from the invaluable treatises on Dance. We see in the famous magnificent Temples of India such as Halebid, Belur, Chidambaram,
Madurai, Kanchipuram, Puri Jagannath, Khajuraho, Konark etc. superb examples of captivating dance poses, and also in the cave temples of Ellora, Ajanta, Badami etc. We can definitely infer after seeing these delicate enchanting dance figures that our ancient sculptors had a thorough knowledge of dance art. They kept their identity hidden because they realized that art was their entire world, their entire life and their ultimate offering to the Almighty god. As such we know only about the greatness of our art but not a single mention of the artist. We do not know from historical evidence, even a single name of such artists. In our mundane world, no one knows the name of the artist who created the most exquisite figure of Shiva Nataraja. The artistic creation was the ultimate object and not the artist who conceived and created it.
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