- At the request of Indra, Brahma extracted the essence of the four Vedas and created the fifth, the Natya Veda, or drama Veda. It is accessible to all. Its purpose was not only to entertain, but to mirror the world, and to offer counsel, courage and comfort.
- Bharata Muni was given the responsibility to produce the first play. After the first successful performance it was presented before Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer, on Mount Kailasha. Shiva was deeply moved and was reminded of his Sandhya Tandava, his dance at twilight. Shiva the Lord was inspired to contribute abstract dance, nritta, to this new art.
- He suggested to Brahma that it would get even better if the drama being acted out on the stage was embellished with dancing. A grateful Brahma requested Shiva to teach the art of dance to Bharata. Bharata, at the time, was in the process of compiling the epic, Natyashastra.
- It was said that God Brahma wrote the Natya Veda but, this was not fit for common consumption. The NatyaShastra was written to retell the messages of Vedas in a form easily grasped by the common man. The authorship of this monumental work is attributed to Sage Bharata Muni, but many contemporary vedic scholars believe that Natyashastra contains contributions from multiple authors. It is believed to have been compiled during the four hundred years from 2nd Century BC to 2nd Century AD.
- Shiva instructed saint Tandu to teach Bharata the nritta, comprising of karanas. Tandu was a masterful dancer. There were many dance forms that Tandu has learned during his time with Shiva but, teaching the divine dances of Shiva was a difficult task. Tandu realized that every time his God danced, it was a new form. For Natyashastra, which was for the consumption of common man, Tandu could only choose one. He remembered a graceful dance routine he had once seen Shiva perform against a dusky Kailasha sky.
- Tandu proceeds to teach Bharata the 108 karanas. These are combined into angaharas and adavus. This nritta was named as tandava, because of being explained by Tandu. Shiva’s Thandavam is embellished with 108 Karanas and 32 angaharas(the composite parts of the dance).These are all described in chapter four of the NatyaShastra.