150 The Dictionary depiction the demons took offense and disrupted the performance. It was determined that a theatre building would be needed as a proper setting for performance, and the text describes the extensive procedure for building a theatre and consecrating it by asking the Gods to inhabit and protect the structure. Brahma is to be center stage and an array of gods as World Guardians (Lokapila) are to be around the sides of the stage. All performances are to include ritual worship of the gods to insure success. Ritual procedures include the enactment onstage of Vedic mythic themes such as the use of a flagstaff that is called Indra’s thunderbolt weapon (Vajra, and in the theatre Jarjara) and is used to break a waterpot onstage, so that the water flows over the stage, recalling Indra’s mythic deed that made life possible. Worship of the gods is called Puja, reflective of the influence of devotional (Bhakti) traditions. The Natya Sastra thus represents a synthesis of ancient and more modern Hindu religious traditions, probably due to the desire both to preserve ancient traditions and to adapt to changing religious practices. The text has served as the measure of aesthetic quality for classical theatre ever since its composition, perhaps in the second century C.E. (See also Kitiyattam; Music; Nataraja; Puja; Rasa; World Guardians.) NAVARATRI PUJA. Nine nights’ worship, the name of a festival of devotion to the Goddess Durga, also known as Dagahra. This festival is celebrated all over India, but primarily in the north, around October 1. (See also DaSahra; Durga; Puja.) NAYANAR. Saint in the Tamil tradition of Saivism. The name means Leader, and along with the Vaisnava saints known as Alvars, they were venerated in the context of devotional (Bhakti) cults in south India. The Nayanar poets of the sixth through eighth centuries C.E. composed songs of praise to Siva, many of them highly emotional expressions of their love for God. Sixty- three poet-saints are revered in the Tamil tradition of Saivism, their biographies recounted in a text entitled Periya Puranam