A dance performance somewhere en route on the Coromandel in 1786, through the eyes of Jacob Haafner

dancer in the Chidambaram Nataraja temple, following the Natya Shastra
Indian dance at its best

Jacob Haafner loved Indian dance and the dancers. This is how he describes enjoying a performance

“How fast and free are all the movements of the quick nymphs, how their gestures correspond with their steps, how pleasing and enchanting are the passionate movements of their shapely limbs and with how much art and skill they unfold before us all their charms, without offending modesty.”