Presented as early as the 6th century, as part of temple dance rituals, these compositions were an offering to the Dikpalas, the custodians or Lords of the eight directions. These are Indra (East), Yama (South), Varuna (West), Kubera (North), Ishana (Northeast), Agni (Southeast), Nirutti (Southwest), Vayu (Northwest) and Brahma (the center and above). This concept was described even in Jain and Buddist literature. Originally performed to Pann, the ancient school of Tamil music, it was revived in the 18th Century, by Thanjavur quartet, brothers Chinnayya, Ponnaiah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu who wrote compositions on the Dikpalas.

Smitha Madhav, a disciple of Guru Rajeswari Sainath, performed this rare form of the Bharathanatyam repertoire in a 90-minute presentation. Specific hastams or hand gestures, to represent each of the deities were used. The music in Sanskrit was composed by Vasantha Madhavi. Several incidents from the epics and shastras were depicted.

One of the unique features of this performance was the costuming, which included 7 changes of the front pleated fan and matching sleeves in eight different colours, while the narrator was describing the next item.

The orchestra featured S.S. Veeraraghavan (vocal), Rajeswari Sainath (nattuvangam), Nellai D Kannan (mridangam), Nagaraju (violin) and Padanjali (flute).

Karaikudi Mani blessed Smitha, in a short speech in English and Tamil. Guest of Honour R. Gopalakrishnan, Director of Tata group of companies, and Dr. Kota Harinarayana, the noted space scientist and Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad University, congratulated Smitha on her performance.