Explanation:

Odissi, in the classical and medieval period has been, a team dance founded on Hindu texts. This drama-dance involved women (Maharis) enacting a spiritual poem or a religious story either in the inner sanctum of a Hindu temple, or in the Natamandira attached to the temple. The Odissi performing Maharis combined pure dance with expression, to play out and communicate the underlying text through abhinaya (gestures). It is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artists and musicians play out a mythical story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature.