Learn · Nartanādhyāya
Nartana Bridge
Śārṅgadeva closed his book with dance. Meet the araimaṇḍi seat, three foundational adavus, and a live tāḷa bed — see the posture, hear the cycle, move on samam.
The Nartanādhyāya (ch. 7) is the śāstra source; the drawings, adavu notes and classroom sollu below are modern teaching practice — details vary by school. Ask your guru where they differ.
Araimaṇḍi · the seat
Tatta Adavu
Press play. The ankle that the step names is the one that lights.
Head steady. Knees out over the toes. Weight even. The checklist is yours before your guru runs it.
The tāḷa bed
Pick an adavu and a cycle, press play, and land each step on its glowing beat. The bed is the same five-stem ensemble the iOS surface mixes — lead, percussion, nattuvāṅgam, drone, coach.
Ensemble mixer
tai · yum · ta · ta · tai · yum · ta · ha
Foundational adavus
Tatta Adavu
8 steps · Ādi
The first strike: eight taps, one per Ādi akṣara, feet flat and knees out.
tai · yum · ta · ta · tai · yum · ta · ha
Natta Adavu
8 steps · Ādi
The tap-and-stretch: heel strikes forward in araimaṇḍi, one per beat.
Sollu varies by school — ask your guru.
Visharu Adavu
8 steps · Ādi
The travelling step: side-to-side movement across the Ādi cycle.
Sollu varies by school — ask your guru.
The 108-day journey
One karaṇa a day walks the whole Nāṭyaśāstra ch. 4 corpus.
The streak counts consecutive study days; a missed day resets it, the journey never rewinds. Progress lives in this browser only — the app keeps the full karaṇa player and its records on device.
The aḍavu path, shaped for you
The same nine stages every classroom teaches — framed for who is practising today.
Araimaṇḍi stance · A child
First we learn the dancing seat — like sitting on an invisible chair!
Knees out like a frog on a log, back tall like a giraffe.
Hold the seat for a few counts at a time. Knees tired? Shake them out.
5 min suggested for one sitting
Authored teaching copy, not śāstra — it claims only to know who it is talking to. Your guru knows the rest.