There is no Mughal influence in the Banaras gharana of Kathak because its dancers were never employed by Mughal courts. They worked for Hindu kings and so you see a lot of bhajans, padas and thumris in it.
If the dances recorded in early written records represented a continuity from prehistoric dances, there may have been prehistoric work dances, war dances, and erotic couple and group dances as well. One couple dance surviving in the 20th century, the Bavarian-Austrian Schuhplattler, is considered by historians to be of Neolithic origin, from before 3000 BC.
From about an inch below the eyes along the whole line of the cheek bones just above the chin, is placed the fragile white chutti made of thick rice and caustic lime mixture, layer upon layer to project away from the face. On this are stuck pieces of paper in the form of the crescent moon and of different sizes. This is called chutti. On the forehead, Vaishnava mark is drawn. The eyes and eyebrows are painted with mashi, the lips are painted red and manjapodi (a pink shining powder) is sprinkled in a manner to stick. This is the makeup of paccha. It is mostly for characters of a satvic nature that pacha is assigned.
(G Venu, “Abhinaya in Kathakali,” Nartanam -Vol 1, #3, July – Sept 2001)
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