Answer:
The term Kathak is derived from ?katha?, a word used in Sanskrit and other languages for story. The Kathaks were originally a caste of story-tellers in temples of North India, who beautified their performances with gestures and songs. Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the bhakti movement.Kathak was performed in the Mughal court. Here it acquired its present features and developed into a form of dance with a distinctive style. Afterwards, it developed in two traditions or gharanas: one in the courts of Rajasthan (Jaipur) and the other in Lucknow. Kathak grew into a major art form, under the patronage of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh. By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, it was firmly entrenched as a dance form not only in these two regions, but also in adjoining areas of present-day Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. British administrators disfavoured Kathak. However, it survived and continued to be performed by courtesans, and was recognised as one of six ?classical? forms of dance in the country after independence.
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