India, Oct. 25 -- History is always a contested area and there are various versions of the past. What were your sources for writing this history of Bharata Natyam and any reasons for such a selection?

I have mentioned my sources in the text - the writings of Jeetendra Hirschfeld and Nandini Ramani. All of us align to a viewpoint that we believe to be true. I have put out that which I to believe to be honest and thoroughly investigated.

There are younger and younger proponents of theories that they themselves neither investigated, nor verified. I have read some of these theories. It seems to me that they all conform to a proposition put forth more often than not, by a single original source that is biased and misinformed. Sadly, the argu...