My teacher once told me that a nayika who tries too hard to look graceful ends up looking rehearsed instead. Bharata Muni seems to have understood this problem two thousand years before modern dance pedagogy caught up to it. In the Natyashastra, he asks them to notice it, because he believed grace already exists naturally in a woman’s emotional responses and simply needs to be channeled correctly on stage. That list of naturally arising expressions is the dasha alankara.
These ten svabhavaja graces are tied closely to amorous and emotionally charged moments. Every one of them shows up constantly in padam and javali repertoire.
This piece continues the samanyabhinaya series, following the earlier pieces on sattva and the six angikabhinaya components and the twelve types of vachikabhinaya. If the ten alankaras below feel closely related to the hava, bhava, and hela framework, that is because they are. Consider this the practical vocabulary sitting underneath those three broader categories.
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What are the dasha alankara, and why “natural”?
Bharata muni calls these ten svabhavaja, meaning they arise from a woman’s own nature rather than being consciously constructed. Here, he is drawing a line between grace that is performed and grace that emerges as a genuine emotional byproduct of desire, love, or joy.
For a dancer, this creates an interesting challenge. You are being asked to reproduce, on cue and in rhythm, something that Bharata muni describes as spontaneous. The way through this is not to fake spontaneity but to build such a deep emotional understanding of the nayika’s situation in the padam that the correct alankara arises on its own, the same way it would for the character herself.
These ten sit closely alongside the ashta nayika classifications and the broader shringara rasa framework, since almost every one of them is triggered by longing, union, or the anticipation of the beloved.
The Ten Natural Graces
1. Lila (Sportive Mimicry)
Lila arises in a playful mood, when a woman imitates her lover’s words, gestures, and even his manner of dress. Her words carry double meanings and her gestures stay graceful throughout, all of it driven purely by affection for him.
On stage, this often shows up in lighter javali repertoire, where the nayika briefly mimics her lover’s swagger or a phrase he once said to her, with a knowing smile that tells the audience she is performing him rather than mocking him. Keep the imitation affectionate. If it tips into caricature, lila transforms into comedy instead of romance.
2. Vilasa (Amorous Gestures)
Vilasa is the graceful shift that appears in standing, sitting, or walking postures, or in the hands, eyes, and eyebrows, once a woman sees her beloved and enters an amorous mood.
This is subtle body language rather than a specific gesture. A slight change in how she holds her spine, a softening around the eyes, a small delay before she moves, all of it signals vilasa. Reviewing your walking and standing postures with this alankara in mind can sharpen how convincingly this shift reads from a distance.
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3. Vicchitti (Dishabille)
Vicchitti is the charm of garlands, clothes, or ornaments worn slightly carelessly, an intentional-looking accident that enhances beauty rather than detracting from it.
Practically, this is difficult to stage with actual costume, since real jewelry rarely looks charmingly askew by accident. Most dancers convey vicchitti through a brief gesture implying a loose strand of hair being tucked back, or a passing touch to an earring, suggesting imperfection without disrupting the choreography.
4. Vibhrama (Confusion)
Vibhrama is confusion caused by intoxication, love, or extreme joy, appearing as exaggerated or hurried movement. The classic example is a woman fumbling with her ornaments upon hearing that her beloved has arrived, moving too fast to be graceful in the usual sense.
This alankara gives you permission to break rhythm slightly. A hurried, almost clumsy gesture reads as vibhrama specifically because it breaks from the otherwise controlled vocabulary surrounding it. Do not over do it though. A little disorder goes further than a lot.
5. Kilikinchita (babbling mood)
Kilikinchita is an intense, babbling mood where smiles, laughter, tears, fear, sorrow, vanity, fatigue, and desire all mix together under the pressure of excitement.
This is one of the more demanding alankaras to perform convincingly, since it asks for several conflicting emotions to surface almost simultaneously. I find it works best in short bursts rather than sustained sequences, a flash of laughter that catches on a half-formed tear, gone before the audience can fully register it.
6. Mottayita (Manifestation of Affection)
Mottayita appears when she hears news of her beloved and shows outward indifference while love burns inwardly.
This is a controlled mask rather than an absence of feeling. The face stays composed, but a well-placed detail, a slight catch in the breath, a brief flicker in the eyes, should tell the audience the indifference is not real. Without that flicker, mottayita just looks like disinterest.
7. Kuttamita (Pretended Anger)
Kuttamita is closely related to mottayita, arising when the lover touches her hair, bosom, or lips. Inwardly she feels pleased, outwardly she performs displeasure.
The difference between kuttamita and mottayita is the trigger. Mottayita responds to news. Kuttamita responds to physical contact. Staging kuttamita well often involves a quick pull-away gesture paired with eyes that linger a moment too long, giving away the pleasure her hands are trying to hide.
8. Bibboka (Affected Coldness)
Bibboka is arrogance or indifference displayed even after her desire has actually been fulfilled.
This one tends to surface after a reunion or a resolved conflict in the padam’s narrative, where instead of relief, the nayika briefly withholds warmth just to assert her own standing. A slight turn of the face away from the beloved, held for a beat longer than expected, communicates bibboka clearly.
9. Lalita (Lolling)
Lalita is leisurely, graceful movement of the hands, feet, brows, eyes, and lips, an unhurried kind of loveliness with no particular emotional trigger attached to it.
Of the ten, this is the closest to a general aesthetic quality rather than a situational response. It rewards slower tempo choreography, where each transition between gestures is given enough time to actually be seen rather than rushed toward the next line.
10. Vihruta (Want of Response)
Vihruta is a deliberate silence, holding back sweet words out of shyness or some other pretext, even when speaking would be the natural response.
This alankara depends entirely on what the audience expects but does not get. If a padam builds toward a moment where a response feels due, and the nayika instead looks away or lowers her gaze without a word, that withheld reaction is vihruta. It only lands if the audience can feel the absence.
How to rehearse the dasha alankara
Trying to consciously produce ten distinct expressions in sequence during rehearsal usually looks stiff. A better approach is to work backward from the story. Take a single padam and identify which specific line or moment would naturally trigger vibhrama, which moment calls for kuttamita, and so on. Most padams will only call on three or four of the ten across their length, not all ten at once.
Once you know which alankara belongs where, isolate that single moment and rehearse it repeatedly on its own, without the surrounding choreography, until the gesture stops feeling like a technique and starts feeling like a believable reaction. Only then fold it back into the full piece.
It also helps to study these alongside the eyebrow and eye movements and the thirty-six glances, since several of these ten alankaras, especially vilasa, mottayita, and kuttamita, depend almost entirely on what the eyes do rather than any large gesture.
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Frequently Asked Questions
It is a set of ten natural graces, called svabhavaja, that arise organically in women during amorous or emotionally charged moments in classical dance.
Mottayita is triggered by hearing news of the beloved. Kuttamita is triggered by physical touch. Both hide inward pleasure behind outward displeasure.
Vibhrama is hurried confusion from joy, love, or intoxication. Kilikinchita mixes several emotions at once, like laughter, tears, and fear together.
No. Most padams trigger only three or four of the ten, depending on the story. Identify the right moment for each rather than forcing all ten in.
Lalita has no specific emotional trigger. It is a general, unhurried gracefulness in movement rather than a reaction to a particular situation.
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Final thoughts
The ten natural graces (dasha alankara) reward performers who study character over performers who study technique in isolation. Each of these ten only makes sense once you know exactly why a woman in that specific moment would react that particular way. Learn the trigger behind each grace, and the movement that follows tends to arrive on its own, closer to the natural, unforced quality Bharata muni was describing all along.
References
- Bharata Muni, Natyashastra
- Natya-shastra.in resource pages on ashta nayika, sringara rasa, eyebrow artistry, and the thirty-six glances.
This article continues the samanyabhinaya series. Catch up on the sattva & angikabhinaya and the twelve types of vachikabhinaya if you are starting from here.
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