**M. Nagabhushana Sarma** **Towards the writing of Histories of Indian Dance Traditions** A comprehensive history of Indian classical tradition, like the histories of the other performing arts, seems at best to be an utopian vision attempt as on today, for it involves too many strands of cross-currents of styles within a style that could not easily be comprehended. There are, of course, attempts made by competent (and many times not so competent) critics in whose works euphoria often blinds facts and excellent photographs outshine content. Many remain to be good coffee table books; some attain the status of gaining place on the racks of a library. However, regional histories of India’s classical traditions, which have been resurrected in the last sixty years, offer more viable material for such ‘comprehensive’, ‘modern’, histories. Our aim in *Nartanam* approximates such attempts and we are slowly reaching a stage where much creditworthy material is found