Estimated reading time: 17 minutes
Just as a man deficient in his limbs is unable to fight a battle, so a play deficient in the limbs of its Segments will be unfit for successful production.” This Bharata Muni’s suggestion from roughly two millennia ago still holds. A drama without its sixty four limbs is structurally disabled.
Let’s walk through every one of those sixty four limbs, grouped across the five segments they inhabit.
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What are the sixty four limbs of segments?
The Natyashastra divides dramatic action into five major segments: the Opening (mukha), the Progression (pratimukha), the Development (garbha), the Pause (vimarsha), and the Conclusion (nirvahana). Each segment has a set of smaller structural units. These units are the limbs, called sandhyangas.
There are sixty four of them in total. Twelve belong to the Opening, eleven to the Progression, thirteen to the Development, thirteen to the Pause, and fourteen to the Conclusion.
A play with a thin theme but well-placed limbs will shine in production. A play with a grand theme but poorly placed limbs will fail to move even the best critics. The limbs are the load-bearing of any drama.
Why the sixty four limbs exist: the sixfold purpose
Before listing each limb, it helps to know what they collectively accomplish. Bharata identifies six functional reasons for the limbs:
- Expressing the desired object of the drama
- Ensuring no essential plot item is omitted
- Attaining the quality of pleasure in production
- Concealing what must be concealed
- Telling tales of surprise
- Disclosing what must be disclosed
They are practical production concerns. A director staging a Natya performance must ask, at every scene transition: which limb is at work here, and what is it accomplishing for the audience’s rasa experience?
The twelve limbs of the Opening (mukha)
The Opening is where the Seed (bīja) of the entire drama is planted. Its twelve limbs work together to establish the dramatic premise, arouse curiosity, and set the emotional tone.
1. Suggestion (upakṣepa)
This is the origin of the dramatic object. The play’s central concern, its core desire or conflict, surfaces here for the first time. In Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam, the king’s first glimpse of Shakuntala in the hermitage functions as Suggestion. The object, romantic longing complicated by duty, enters the stage.
2. Enlargement (parikara)
Once the object is introduced, Enlargement amplifies it. The idea grows. Subplots emerge. Characters begin responding. Think of it as the first expansion of the narrative seed.
3. Establishment (pariṇyāsa)
This goes one step further. Establishment means describing the object thoroughly, setting it in place so both characters and audience understand the stakes. There is no ambiguity after Establishment. The situation has been named.
4. Allurement (vilobhana)
Allurement is the mentioning of good qualities. A character or situation is presented in its most appealing light. This is the limb that draws the audience in, not through conflict but through attraction. It is seduction by description.
5. Decision (yukti)
Here the issues are settled. A course of action is chosen, a commitment made. Decision does not end uncertainty in the drama, but it clarifies which direction the characters are moving.
6. Accession (prāpti)
Accession sums up the purpose of the Opening as a whole. It is the moment of gathering, where everything introduced so far coheres into a recognizable dramatic shape.
7. Settling (samādhāna)
Where Accession summarizes the Opening, Settling summarizes the purpose of the Seed itself. This is a deeper gathering, touching the root intention of the entire drama.
8. Conflict of Feelings (vidhāna)
Joys and sorrows arising together in the same situation constitute this limb. This is the emotional complexity of good drama. A character receives news that is simultaneously a gift and a wound. The audience feels both. That is vidhāna.
9. Surprise (paribhāvana)
An excitement that generates curiosity. Something unexpected occurs, something that does not resolve immediately but makes the audience lean forward. Surprise here is anticipatory arousal.
10. Disclosure (udbheda)
What was planted in Suggestion now shows itself above ground (the seed sprouts). This is one of the most critical moments in the Opening because it signals that the dramatic promise is being honored.
11. Activity (karaṇa)
Taking up the matter in question. A character acts, responds, initiates. Inertia ends. The drama begins moving with purpose.
12. Incitement (bheda)
The limb meant to disrupt a union. Incitement introduces the force, person, or event that will create the central conflict by separating what was together. It closes the Opening and propels the drama into Progression.
The eleven limbs of the Progression (pratimukha)
The Progression is where the dramatic action gains momentum. Its limbs are concerned with desire, obstacle, humor, and social interaction. This segment is often the most emotionally varied.
1. Amorousness (vilāsa)
The desire for the sport of love. This limb does not describe love itself but the longing, the playful inclination toward it. In performance, this is often expressed through graceful, anticipatory movement rather than direct declaration.
2. Pursuit (parisarpa)
Pursuing an object once seen and then lost. The glimpse and the disappearance, followed by searching, this is Pursuit. It is one of the most physically expressive limbs in a dance-drama context.
3. Refusal (vidhūta)
Not complying with a request made by another. Refusal introduces resistance. It can be gentle or sharp, comedic or tragic, depending on context. What matters dramatically is that it creates friction.
4. Pessimism (tāpana)
Thinking about some future danger. A character perceives threat where none has materialized yet. This limb builds dread and foreshadows. It is the emotional shadow cast by a future event.
5. Joke (narma)
Laughter meant for sport. This is straightforward comedic exchange, the kind that exists for its own pleasure without serving a hidden agenda. Not all drama needs constant tension. Narma is permission to breathe among the sixty four limbs.
6. Flash of Joke (narmadyuti)
Laughter used to conceal a fault. This is far more nuanced than simple humor. A character deflects with wit, covers embarrassment with a quip, or uses comedy as a shield. Bharata distinguishes this carefully from plain Joke.
7. Moving Forward (pragamana)
Speaking words that bring in other words after them. This is the limb of momentum, dialogue that opens into further dialogue, action that compels further action. It propels the scene.
8. Sweet Words (puṣpa, literally “flower”)
Mentioning some favorable peculiarity. A character highlights something pleasant or praiseworthy about another. This limb softens, reconciles, or builds affection.
9. Thunderbolt (vajra)
Harsh words spoken directly to someone’s face. The contrast with Sweet Words is intentional. Both are speech acts. One opens; one strikes. Vajra is confrontation without euphemism.
10. Reference (upanyāsa)
A remark based on reason. This is discursive, analytical speech. A character argues, explains, or supports a position with logic. Reference elevates the intellectual register of the scene.
11. Meeting of Castes (varṇasaṃhāra)
The coming together of all four castes. This limb acknowledges the social breadth of drama. It serves as a structural reminder that the drama speaks to all levels of society, not just the elite.
The thirteen limbs of the Development (garbha)
The Development is the interior of the drama, the long middle where the Seed grows toward its ultimate resolution. Its limbs range from deception to revelation, from supplication to panic.
1. Mis-statement (kapaṭāśraya)
Speech founded on deceit. A character lies, misleads, or constructs a false narrative. This is a moral judgment. Great dramas use Mis-statement to generate dramatic irony, where the audience knows what the characters do not.
2. Indication (mārga)
Speaking out one’s real intention. After concealment comes clarity. Indication is the moment a character reveals what they truly mean or want. It often follows Mis-statement, creating a pattern of concealment and disclosure.
3. Supposition (rūpa)
A hypothesis into which novel meanings are embedded. A character proposes something, not as fact but as possibility, and in doing so opens new interpretive directions for the drama.
4. Exaggeration (udāharaṇa)
A speech with overstatement. This is hyperbole as a structural device, enlarging reality for emotional or comic effect. In drama aesthetics, exaggeration is a valid and valued mode of expression.
5. Progress (krama)
Foreseeing what comes afterward. A character or the dramatic structure itself signals what is approaching. Progress creates anticipation and gives the audience a sense of inevitability.
6. Propitiation (saṃgraha)
Contact through sweet words and gifts. A character attempts to win over another through gentle speech and generosity. This limb is about social negotiation, the softer form of persuasion.
7. Deduction (anumāna)
Perceiving something by associating it with a similar known thing. Inference. A character reasons from what they know to what they suspect. This is the detective’s faculty applied to dramatic structure. Do you know which famous character uses this?
8. Supplication (prārthanā)
Request for love’s enjoyment, festivity, or similar pleasure. This is formal asking, often with emotional urgency. The supplicant acknowledges their need and places themselves in another’s hands.
9. Revelation (ākṣipta)
The unfolding of the Seed within the Development. This is a significant moment. The central dramatic purpose begins to come clear. Revelation in the Development is not yet final, but it is real.
10. Quarrel (toṭaka)
Quarrel (angry speech, confrontation erupts, voices rise) is not merely argument but emotionally charged exchange that threatens the existing relational order.
11. Outwitting (adhibala)
Deception by means of a trick. Different from Mis-statement, which involves false speech, Outwitting involves a ruse or stratagem. One character outmaneuvers another through cleverness.
12. Dismay (udvega)
Fear arising from a king, an enemy, or a robber. A specific, socially situated fear. The source of threat matters here. This is not abstract anxiety but fear with a face.
13. Panicky Commotion (vidrava)
A sudden terror (of a monarch’s wrath or a spreading fire) shatters the peace. While dismay grips the heart internally, a frantic commotion erupts outward. Everyone scatters as the scene fragments and order temporarily breaks down.
The thirteen limbs of the Pause (vimarsha)
The Pause is where the drama turns. The trajectory is questioned, tested, reversed, or intensified. Its limbs carry the heaviest emotional weight of any segment.
1. Censure (apavāda)
Proclaiming someone’s fault. Public exposure. This limb has social and moral force. It damages, and the damage is meant to be seen.
2. Angry Words (saṃpheṭa)
Words spoken in anger. The emotional temperature rises. Unlike Quarrel in the Development, Angry Words in the Pause often carry the weight of accumulated grievance.
3. Insolence (abhidrava)
Transgression of superiors. A character violates the social or moral hierarchy. This is bold, dangerous, and dramatically significant because it cannot be easily undone.
4. Placation (śakti)
Coming into conflict. Slightly counterintuitive in translation, Placation here refers to the moment of direct confrontation that must precede any resolution. You cannot genuinely reconcile without first meeting the conflict upfront.
5. Assertion (vyavasāya)
A promise made for a reason. Commitment is declared. A character binds themselves to an outcome. Assertion raises the stakes because breaking it will carry consequence.
6. Mention (prasaṅga)
Speaking of one’s superiors. Reference to authority, lineage, or tradition. This limb invokes the hierarchical world outside the immediate drama.
7. Injury (druti)
Words spoken in contempt is a sharper, more personal form of verbal harm than Censure. Contempt is intimate; it requires knowing someone well enough to wound them precisely.
8. Lassitude (kheda)
Here the character reaches their emotional or intellectual limit. Lassitude is a moment of visible exhaustion, and in performance it is one of the most humanizing limbs to enact.
9. Opposition (niṣedha)
Obstruction to a desired object. The path is blocked. Movement toward the goal becomes impossible. Opposition generates the tension that the Pause is structurally designed to hold.
10. Altercation (virodhana)
Speaking and counter-speaking in excitement. This is rapid, heated exchange. Unlike deliberate Quarrel, Altercation has a frantic quality, voices overlapping, positions hardening in real time.
11. Summing up (ādāna)
Bringing together all aspects of the Seed and the Action. This is a structural integration, the Pause pausing to take stock of everything the drama has established.
12. Humiliation (sādana)
Using insulting words for a purpose. Unlike Injury, which is contemptuous, Humiliation is strategic. It is deployed deliberately, which makes it arguably more disturbing dramatically.
13. Foresight (prarocanā)
Expressing the purpose of the Conclusion in advance. The drama signals where it is going. This limb is the bridge between the Pause and the resolution, and it works by making the audience feel that the ending, when it comes, was always inevitable.
The fourteen limbs of the Conclusion (nirvahaṇa)
The Conclusion does not simply end the drama. It harvests everything planted in the previous four segments. Its fourteen limbs are concerned with integration, recognition, joy, and benediction.
1. Juncture (sandhi)
The coming together of the Opening and the Seed. What was introduced at the very beginning now rejoins what the drama has become. Juncture is the moment of full structural unity.
2. Awakening (vibodha)
A character becomes fully conscious of what has happened and what is required. All that confusion lifts and the path forward becomes visible.
3. Assembling (grathana)
The different narrative threads are woven together. Nothing is left dangling. Assembling is the craft of closure applied with precision.
4. Ascertainment (nirṇaya)
A character speaks from direct experience, confirming what is true. This carries epistemic weight, grounding the resolution in witnessed reality.
5. Accusation (paribhāṣaṇa)
Saying something to blame someone. Even in Conclusion, accountability must be addressed. Accusation in this segment is not an opening of new conflict but a closing of moral accounts.
6. Confirmation (kṛti)
Turning to use the object gained. The reward of the drama’s journey is actively employed. This is a purposeful engagement with what has been won.
7. Gratification (prasāda)
Treating one with waiting upon or similar care. A character receives honor, attention, and service. Gratification is the social expression of esteem restored or newly granted.
8. Joy (ānanda)
The core emotional fulfillment of comedy and romance. The hero gets what they sought. Ānanda is the felt quality of resolution in the body.
9. Deliverance (samaya)
Passing away of all misery. Not just happiness, but the active removal of suffering. Deliverance is the structural completion of tragedy’s arc when it bends toward resolution.
10. Surprise (upagūhana)
Appearance of something wonderful. The drama holds one more moment of astonishment. This late surprise is not disruptive but deeply satisfying, like finding something precious you had forgotten you lost.
11. Clever Speech (bhāṣana)
Words mentioning conciliation, gift, and related acts. The tongue at its most gracious. Clever Speech smooths final tensions and elevates the social mood.
12. Retrospect (pūrva-vākya)
Reference to something spoken before. A callback. A line or image from earlier in the drama returns, transformed by everything that has happened since. Retrospect creates the satisfying circularity of great narrative.
13. Termination (kāvya-saṃhāra)
Giving and receiving of a boon. The formal exchange that closes the dramatic world. Gifts of grace, boons of power, blessings offered and accepted, these mark the world as restored and the drama as complete.
14. Benediction (praśasti)
A prayer seeking peace for the king and the country. The drama opens outward into the world beyond the stage. The audience is included in the blessing. The dramatic experience becomes a civic and spiritual act.
How to apply the sixty four limbs in practice
Bharata says that a playwright need not include every limb in every segment. Sometimes two or three limbs combined will suffice. What matters is intentionality. Each limb you choose must serve the sixfold purpose: expressing the dramatic object, avoiding essential omissions, achieving beauty in production, concealing what must be concealed, creating surprise, and disclosing what must be disclosed.
For practitioners of Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, or other classical forms that draw on narrative structure, these limbs offer a rigorous vocabulary for abhinaya. When you are planning an ashtapadi or a padam, ask which segment you are in. Ask which limb is active. The answer shapes your gesture, your gaze, your stillness.
For directors and dramaturgs working with Sanskrit texts, the 64 limbs serve as a structural diagnostic. A scene that feels stagnant may be missing its karaṇa (Activity). A climax that lands flatly may have skipped its vibodha (Awakening). The limbs are tools for diagnosis as much as for composition.
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Frequently Asked Questions
They are sixty four structural units called sandhyangas, distributed across the five dramatic segments: Opening, Progression, Development, Pause, and Conclusion. Each limb serves a specific narrative or emotional function within the segment it occupies.
No. Bharata explicitly states that a playwright may use all limbs, or a combination of two or three, depending on the scope and condition of the dramatic action. Judgment, not compliance, guides their placement.
The five segments are the macro-structure of the drama. The 64 limbs are the micro-units that fill each segment with specific dramatic content. Think of segments as chapters and limbs as the scenes that give each chapter its meaning.
Yes. Dance-drama traditions like Kathakali, Kuchipudi, and Bharatanatyam draw directly on Natyashastra dramaturgy. Performers and choreographers use these limbs to structure abhinaya sequences, particularly in narrative pieces like padams and ashtapadis.
The Conclusion (nirvahaṇa) has the most, with fourteen limbs. This reflects its structural complexity. It must gather every unresolved thread, establish moral resolution, deliver emotional fulfillment, and close the dramatic world with grace.
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Final thoughts
The sixty four limbs of segments are not a checklist. They are a map of how dramatic meaning is built, carried, complicated, and resolved. Bharata understood that a play’s power comes not from its theme alone but from the precise, purposeful architecture that carries that theme to an audience’s heart.
Every limb has a job. Every segment has a set of limbs precisely calibrated for it. When they are all in their right places, with the right sentiments, the result is what the Natyashastra calls beauty through the brilliance of production.
That is not a small thing to aim for.
References for sixty four limbs in use
- Bharata Muni. Natyashastra, (translated by Manomohan Ghosh)
- Dasgupta, Surendranath. A History of Sanskrit Literature.
- Levi, Sylvain. Le Théâtre Indien.
- Warder, A.K. Indian Kāvya Literature, Vol. 1.
- Rangacharya, Adya. The Natyasastra: English Translation with Critical Notes.
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