As can be seen from illustrations and from the bas-reliefs of Borobudur and Prambanan, the vigorous character of Hindu dancing was transformed by the Javanese into an individual style, corresponding,, to their own ideas, and during the last centuries of the Hindu-Javanese period a special style for the topeng dance crystallized.

As in so many other branches of art, the political troubles of the 15th and 16th centuries had a most unfortunate effect upon the dance. Once again it was the cultural stimulus from tile kraton of Mataram that infused these ceremonial and wayang-wong dances with new life.

This also explain; why, after the partition of the kingdom of Mataram into three vassal states(1755 and 1757) the art of dancing evolved in quite a different fashion at the courts of Djokjakara and Surakarta respectively. And though these two schools have influenced each other, the difference between them is still recognizable. Dancing g the court of Mangkunagara conformed stylistically to that at Djokjakarta.