[1][2] The dance gets its name from Mohini – the female enchantress avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who helps the devas prevail over the asuras using her feminine charm.

[1][3] Mohiniyattam's roots, like all classical Indian dances, are in the Natya Shastra – the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text on performance arts.

[7][8][9][10] The repertoire of Mohiniyattam includes music in the Carnatic style, singing and acting a play through the dance, where the recitation may be either by a separate vocalist or the dancer themselves.

[12] The socio-political conflict ultimately led to renewed interest, revival and reconstruction of Mohiniyattam by the people of Kerala, particularly the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.

Mohiniyattam, also referred to as Mohini-attam, is derived from "Mohini" – a famous female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu in Indian mythology.

Appearing in her youthful bloom, dressed rapturously she uses her charms to seduce the Asuras, who seeking her favors, give her the Amrita to distribute among the evil forces.

[11] The 18th century Balarama Bharatam, a major secondary work on Natya Shastra composed in Kerala, mentions many dance styles including Mohini Natana.

[27][28] The seductive gestures and facial expressions during temple dances were caricatured in The Wrongs of Indian Womanhood, published at the start of the 20th century, as evidence of "harlots, debased erotic culture, slavery to idols and priests" tradition, and Christian missionaries demanded that this must be stopped, launching the "anti-dance movement" or "anti-nautch movement" in 1892.

[27][28][29] This movement affected all classical dances in India and contributed to their decline,[27][28] including the stigmatization of Mohiniyattam in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin in the British Empire.

[33] The ridicule and bans enacted during the British colonial era contributed to nationalist sentiments, and impacted all Hindu performance arts including Mohiniyattam.

[34][35] Other significant champions of Mohiniyattam in the 20th century have been Mukundraja, Appiradeth Krishna Panicker, Harichand and guys from Vishnavam, Thankamony, as well as the guru and dancer Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma.

[36][37] Kalamandalam is a very known institution for teaching and learning the art form Mohiniyattam, but notorious for the discriminations faced by the artists and students based on their caste and colour.

Adding spice to this, Kalamandalam Sathyabhama Jr entered the media scope recently with racist and gender slam statement against male and coloured artists earning their space in the art form gala of Mohiniyattam.

[44] The body movement is sometimes described in terms of calming images of nature as the swinging of the palm leaves,[45] and the gentle undulating of ocean waves.

The repertoire sequence of Mohiniyattam is similar to that of Bharatanatyam, so of contains seven items that are performed to a structure described in classical dance texts: Cholkettu (invocation, but starts with offering reverence to a goddess Bhagavati and ends with a prayer to Shiva), Jatisvaram or more precisely Swarajeti, Varnam (a play wherein she embeds a mimicry for distraction while communicating the underlying story or message), Padam (song), Tillana (dancer's interpretation of melody the musician create), Shlokam and Saptam.

[49] In front of the saree, below the belt is pleated sheet with concentric bands in gold or saffron colors, which allow freedom of movement and assist in visually communicating the mudra to distant audience.

[49] The dancer wears relatively simple jewelry and no masks, in contrast to the other major classical dance of Kerala called Kathakali.