Paatra
“tanvi roopavathi Syama Peenonnata payodhara
pragalbha sarasaa kaanta kusalaagraha mokshayoh
chaari Taala layabhigna mandala – sthaana pandita
hasthaanga sthaana nipuNa karaNeshu vilasini
viSaala lochana geetha vaadya taalaanuvarthini
paraardhya bhusha sampanna prasanna mukha pankaja
naati shoola naatikruSa naatyuccha naativaamana
evam vidha guNopeta nartaki samudheerita”
Patra (Character of a Dancer): She should be slender bodied, beautiful, young with round breasts, self confident, witty, pleasing, know ing well when to begin a dance and when to stop, having large eyes, able to perform in accompaniment of vocal and instrumental music and to observe the proper time beats (Taala), having splendid dresses and possessing a happy countenance. A girl having these qualifications is call a dancer (Patra)
Apatra
Pushpaakshi keSa heenacha sthuloshti lambitasthani
Atisthula ati kruSa atyuchapyati vaamana
Kubjaacha swara heenacha vesya natya varjitha
Apatra Definition: The 10 kinds of women that should be avoided in Natya are Women with white specks in the eyeballs or women who have scanty hair or have thick lips or pendant breasts or who are either very fat or very thin or either tall or very short or hunch banked or has no voice.
Kinkini
KinkiNyah kaamsya virachitaah ekaikaanguLikantaram
Suswaraascha suruupaascha suukshma nakshatra devatah
Badneeyaa nneela sutreNa grandhibhiScha drDham Punaha
Satadwayam Satam vaapi paadyoh naaTya kaariNi
Kinkini (Quality of bells), Tiny bells made of bronze should have pleasant sound and should be well shaped and have stars as their deities and should remain one inch apart from each other. The dancer should bind a hundred of them or two hundred in each of her two feet with black thread in tight knots.
Sabha
sabhakalpa taruh bhati veda sakhopa shobhitaha
Sastra pushpa samakeerno vidwadbhramara samyuthaha
The audience which is as it were the wishing tree (Kalpavruksham) shines with the veda as its branches, the Sastras as its flowers and the scholars as the bees adoring it!
