Natya Shastra

The Nāṭyaśāstra, attributed to Bharata Muni, is the foundational Sanskrit treatise on drama, performance, dance, music, aesthetics, stagecraft, and rasa theory. It explains dramatic composition, acting, gestures, costumes, instruments, meters, characters, emotions, and audience experience. Its theory of rasa became central to Indian aesthetics, influencing theatre, classical dance, poetics, and literary criticism across many traditions and centuries.