Kuchipudi (/kuːtʃiˈpuːdi/) is one of the ten major Indian classical dances. It originated in a village of Krishna district in modern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance art, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra. It developed as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual beliefs, like all major classical dances of India. Evidence of Kuchipudi's existence in an older version are found in copper inscriptions of the 10th century, and by the 15th century in texts such as the Machupalli Kaifat. Kuchipudi tradition believes that Tirtha Narayana Yati – a sanyassin of Advaita Vedanta persuasion, and his disciple an orphan named Siddhendra Yogi founded and systematized the modern version of Kuchipudi in the 17th c