List of traditional Indian theatre

Kutiyattam is the only surviving specimen of the ancient Sanskrit theatre, thought to have originated around the beginning of the Common Era, and is officially recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. In addition, many forms of Indian folk theatre abound.^[1] They are listed below.

Theatre	State/Region	Features	Exponents
Akhyana	Gujarat	Enactment of religious episodes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata by Mana-bhatas	Premanand Bhatt,^[2]^[3] Narsinh Mehta, Acharya Hemachandra
Ankia Naat	Assam	Written in an artificial old medieval period poetic Assamese and Maithili mixed language called Brajavali and are primarily centered on Krishna, which usually combine live instruments and singers, dance and elaborate costumes in production
Bayalata	Karnataka
Bhand pather	Kashmir	it consists of unique combinations of dance, drama and acting
Bhaona	Assam
Bhavai	Gujarat
Burrakatha	Andhra Pradesh
Chhau	Jharkhand,West Bengal & Orissa
Dashavatar	Maharashtra and Goa
Harikatha	Southern India
Hela Khayal Dangal	Rajasthan
Jatra	West Bengal
Kalaripayattu	Kerala
Kathakali	Kerala
Marathi Keertan	Maharashtra
Kathakatha	West Bengal
Kudiyattam	Kerala
Maach	Madhya Pradesh
Naqal	Punjab
Manipuri Sankirtana	Manipur
Nautanki	Uttar Pradesh
Odissi	Orissa
Ojapali	Assam
Padayani	Kerala
Pala	Orissa
Pandavani	Madhya Pradesh
Powada	Maharashtra
Raas Leela (Raas Mahotsav)	Assam
Ramlila	Northern India
Raslila	Uttar Pradesh
Rabana Chhaya	Orissa	Shadow puppetry
Swang	Rajasthan
Swang	Uttar Pradesh
Tamasha	Maharashtra
Tang-ta	Manipur
Terukkuttu	Tamil Nadu
Theyyam	Kerala
Tholpavakoothu	Kerala
Tiatr	Goa
Wari-leeba	Manipur
Yakshagana	Karnataka

References