Sanskrit Drama

Sanskrit drama is the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India, regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature, whose roots can be traced to dialogic hymns in the Rigveda before the tradition entered its classical stage with the composition of the Natyashastra, or Science of Drama. The Buddhist playwright, poet and philosopher Asvaghosa is considered among its earliest dramatists, alongside Bhasa, who is credited with two of the only surviving tragedies in Sanskrit drama; despite its name, the tradition is bilingual, mixing Sanskrit with Prakrit and drawing on stock character types such as the hero, heroine and clown. Kalidasa, writing in the fourth or fifth century CE, is widely regarded as ancient India's greatest Sanskrit dramatist, and his play Abhijnanashakuntalam, drawn from a story in the Mahabharata, was the first Sanskrit drama translated into English and German and influenced Goethe's Faust. Later dramatists including Bhavabhuti, author of Malati-Madhava and plays covering the Ramayana epic, and the emperor Harsha, credited with three surviving plays, continued the tradition into the seventh century.