Karana dance

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Karanas are the 108 key positions in the classical Indian dance. Karana is a Sanskrit verbal noun, meaning "doing".

Currently, as regards the exact postures, there are no established standards and no universally agreed upon interpretations of the texts and scupltures.

Some of the well-known interpretations of karanas are by Padma Subrahmanyam that were based on 108 brief movement phrases describing specific leg, hip, body, and arm movements accompanied by hasta mudras described in the Natya shastra and other scriptures, and from depictions of the movements in sculpture in five South Indian temples, notably the Chidambaram temple which contains depictions of the full set.

Due to the significant variations in the depictions, and due to the vague textual descriptions, most traditional Bharatanatyam schools considered Padma Subrahmanyam's interpretations as incorrect, which forced her to name her own style as Bharatanrityam rather than Bharatanatyam.

While only 50-60 karanas have been transmitted by parampara up to date, some other gurus, such as Adyar Lakshman (Kalakshetra school) and Sheela Unnikrishnan (Mangudi school) have also attempted to reconstruct all the 108 karanas, which were often significantly different from Padma Subrahmanyam's interpretations.

Apart from that, performing of the same karana differ greatly in different classical Indian styles. So, the same karana will most likely look very different in Kuchipudi or Odissi.