

The compound word Bharatanatyam would thus connote a dance which harmoniously expresses "bhava, raga and tala".Bharatanatyam has also been called Sadir.Bharathanatyam is the classical dance of South India. The term Natya is a Sanskrit word for "dance". According to this belief, bha stands for bhava (feelings, emotions), ra stands for raga (melody, framework for musical notes), and ta stands for tala (rhythm).

There is an alternative belief that the word Bharata is a mnemonic, consisting of "bha"–"ra"–"ta". The term Bharata is believed to be named after the famous performance art sage to whom the ancient Natya Shastra is attributed. Bharatanatyam is a compound of two words, Bharata and Natyam.
