Bharatanatyam is one of the most popular dance style from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.It is believed that God and Goddesses pleaded Lord Brahma, the Creator of the Universe, to create a Veda for the common man to understand. In keeping with this request Lord Brahma created the fifth Veda, Natyaveda, which is an essence of the four Vedas. He took pathya (words) from the Rigveda, abhinaya (gestures) from the Yajurveda, geet (music and chant) the Sama Veda and Rasa (sentiment and emotions) from the Atharvaveda to form the Veda. After creating the Natyaveda, Lord Brahma gave the same to sage Bharata to popularize the Veda on earth. Following the instructions of the Lord, sage Bharata wrote the Natyashastra, the Science of Dramaturgy, a great comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian Drama, Dance and Music. It is believed that the dance form Bharatanatyam may have got its name from the great sage. There is another story, which says that Goddess Parvathi taught this dance form to Uma, daughter of Banasura, a demon. Thus the devine dance form Bharatanatyam was introduced to mankind. In Indian mythology Lord Shiva is considered as the Supreme Lord of dance. Lord Shiva and his wife Goddess Parvathi perform this divine art form. The dance performed by lord Shiva is known as Tandava, which depicts its violent nature as the destructor of the universe. The tandava performed with joy is called Ananda Tandava and performed in violent mood is called Rudra Tandava.Tandava has vigorous brisk movements. The dance performed by Goddess Parvathi is known as Lasya,in which the movements are gentle, graceful and sometimes erotic. Some scholars call Lasya as the feminine version of Tandava.