**V. RAGHAVAN** A study of this subject, Uparupakas and Nritya-prabandhas, is necessary for the light it could throw on the history and development of many a dance-form prevalent in different parts of the country. The ancient Indian stage was a growing one and at one point in its growth it was considered useful to classify the performances into two kinds, the *rupakas* and the *uparupakas*. Broadly speaking, the *rupakas* are major forms of drama and the *uparupakas* minor forms of drama in which music and dance predominated and most of which were forms of dance-drama or regular dances. This distinction cannot however be strictly enforced because in the *rupaka* class, considered to. comprise the ten forms - *dasa rupaka* - not all could be entitled to be characterized as regular or major dramatic types. Barring the two leading types, the heroic *nataka* and the social *prakarana* with their derivative product the *natika*