Kathak: The temple tradition and the court tradition:

Kathak is also known as Natavari, the dance of Nata, the musicians, dancers, actors who preserved the tradition of dance and drama in North India for generations. They were the story tellers, literally Katha-ka's and entertainers. The legacy of dance in north India is preserved through the generations of these Kathak's or Nata's or the story tellers. The history of Kathak can be divided broadly in two parts. The time period before the 10th century and post 10th century.

The temple tradition:

The pre-10th century period can be roughly called as temple tradition period of Kathak. This was golden period for the Nata's. They were associated with many temples and religious institutions where they spread spirituality through their devotional dance. They used to train the Devdasi's and Kathak was part of the worship. They were also appointed by the Kings not only to perform at the royal temples but also to train the prince or princess in this beautiful form of worship. Some performed individually in temples.

The content of the dance was devotional and the adherence to the tradition of Natyashastra was strictly followed. Various traditional festivals were filled with the devotional storytelling of these Kathak's. They recited and performed stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Purana's. The Kathak in this period was still far from erotic content and was not considered vulgar. The dancers had social status and respect.

Even the costume of Kathak in this period was as per the suitability of the content or the traditional North Indian costume of Chaniya Choli.

The court tradition :

The period after 10th century, witnessed Islamic invasions. This was the deteriorating period for the dance forms in general and Kathak in particular. The invasion suddenly increased the problems of bread and butter for the people and hence lead to no scope for development in art. The dancers had to dislocate and wander in search of resort. The invader rulers did not respect the local art forms and instead transformed them forcibly as their means of erotic entertainment. This period had huge influence on Kathak. It was transformed to the roots. It was customized as to be presented in the courts. The court dancers were encouraged for erotic gestures. It was this period when this style was taught to the court prostitutes and then for a long time it was labelled as their dance. Even the costume of the dance changed to Mugal style Kurta, Salwar, Dupatta and a cap.

Although, the dance was socially deteriorated and was no more respectable, some of the parts of the style are the boon of this period. The Lucknow Gharana emerged and developed from the end of 18th century in the court of Nawab Vajid Ali Shah. The Abhinay part of Kathak was rejuvenated under his rein. Gatnikas was developed in details and innumerous types of Gat's were added to the tradition. Today's form of Kathak owes much to this development period. In this court period, even the rulers encouraged competitions or Jugalbandi's between the Dancers and Tabla players. This gave rise to many special variations of taal compositions such as Farmaish. Even in the british period, there was no impressive development in Kathak.

Even in this invasion period, some dancers preserved the original Kathak tradition in the courts of Hindu rulers. This preserved tradition is still seen in the style of Jaipur Gharana. Kathak tradition also remained in the form of North Indian Folk styles such as Raas, Kajri etc.

Today's Kathak is the outcome of both the temple and court tradition. Although this transformational period had deteriorated the social status of Kathak in past and has influenced immensely on its original form, we can not deny that the variety of the content in today's Kathak is also result of the same transformational period.