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India: Proshitabhartruka is a woman whose husband has gone away on business and does not return on the appointed day. She is depicted mourning, surrounded by her maids, but refuses to be consoled.

India: Proshitabhartruka is a woman whose husband has gone away on business and does not return on the appointed day. She is depicted mourning, surrounded by her maids, but refuses to be consoled.

The Ashta-Nayika is a collective name for eight types of nayikas or heroines as classified by Bharata in his Sanskrit treatise on performing arts, the Natya Shastra. The eight nayikas represent eight different states (avastha) in relationship to her hero or nayaka. As archetypal states of the romantic heroine, it has long been used as theme in Indian painting, literature, sculpture as well as Indian classical dance.

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