Class 7 Arts (Kriti) Chapter 1, Understanding Emotions, opens the Theatre section by exploring how actors express bhava and evoke rasa in the audience, comparing realistic (Lokadharmi) and stylised (Natyadharmi) acting traditions and ancient theatre architecture.
What Class 7 Art Chapter 1 Covers
Rasa, Bhava & Emotional Corners (Activity 1.1) traces how emotions transform posture, breath, voice and facial expression, practicing transitions across varying intensity levels in the ‘Emotional Corners’ theatre game.
Styles of Acting: Lokadharmi & Natyadharmi (Activities 1.2–1.3) contrasts realistic everyday acting (Lokadharmi) with stylized symbolic theatre (Natyadharmi) from the Natyashastra, alongside ancient Indian amphitheatres like Sitabenga caves in Ramgarh.
Levels of an emotion: each rasa is played at rising intensities: anger moves from mild anger to very angry to rage, and happiness from immediate gratification (your favourite ice cream) to personal achievement (winning a hard competition) to helping a friend. In the advanced round of Emotional Corners the corners show only levels, and groups build a story around them.
Emotion in stone: temple sculptures show the same rasas in stone. The chapter connects acting to Indian sculpture and to the lifetime of practice behind it, and Activity 1.3 asks you to find a temple sculpture and write about the emotion and story it shows.
Exercises in Chapter 1
- Activities, Circle Time reflections and end-of-chapter Assessment rubrics.
Read Class 7 Art Chapter 1 Online
More Chapters
- Next: Chapter 2: Say More without Speech — Mime
- Hindi medium: Class 7 Arts Chapter 1 PDF in Hindi (Kriti)
- All Art chapters and the other Class 7 books: Class 7 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
- Every book chapter by chapter: NCERT chapter wise PDF
FAQ
What is the difference between Lokadharmi and Natyadharmi styles of acting in Indian theatre?
Lokadharmi is the realistic style of acting that mirrors natural everyday human behaviour and speech, whereas Natyadharmi is the stylised, conventional mode of performance using codified gestures, rhythmic movement and symbolic expression.
What are the four main artistic disciplines in Class 7 Kriti?
Theatre (Chapters 1–4), Music (Chapters 5–9), Dance and Movement (Chapters 10–14), and Visual Arts (Chapters 15–19), concluding with the multi-art integration chapter (Chapter 20).
What are Lokadharmi and Natyadharmi?
The two styles of acting in the Natyashastra: Lokadharmi is realistic, everyday acting, and Natyadharmi is stylised, theatrical acting.