Shilparatna is a classical text on traditional South Indian representational-performing arts.
In this the word Shilpa (sculptural) Ratna (Gems) is used as a broad term embodying artistic forms that either uses the body as a medium of expression (like Dance, Drama or Dance-Drama) or that which represents the body as an expression (like Sculptures and mural arts).
It ranks only after the Natya Shastra and the Abhinaya Darpana as a text of fundamentals on the performing arts.
It lays down the tenets of painting such as the proper set of colours and the right combinations which leads to stylized balance and rhythm.
It describes the elaborate codified language of mudras (stylized gestures and symbolic signs by the hands and body posture used in Bharatanatyam and Kathakali) as angikabhinaya, meaning body-expressions.