The Sanskrit drama

A scholarly study traces the origins, development, theory, and practice of classical Indian drama written in Sanskrit and Prākrit, examining ritual and Vedic antecedents, the Nāṭyaśāstra’s account of divine origin, and debates prompted by newly discovered early fragments. It analyzes major dramatists and representative plays through the first millennium, outlines technical principles of poetics and stagecraft—such as rasa, characterization, metre, and performance conventions—and distinguishes theoretical prescriptions from later imitative works. The author confines discussion to literary-dramatic traditions, omitting vernacular theatre, and emphasizes how textual confusion in sources complicates but also illuminates understanding of classical dramatic art.