1. Sanskrit Drama

2. Indian Drama The earliest form of Indian drama was the Sanskrit drama.
Began after the development of Greek and Roman drama and before the development of theatre in other parts of Asia.
Modern Indian theatre developed during the period of colonial rule under the British Empire, from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th.

3. Sanskrit theatre
The earliest-surviving fragments of Sanskrit drama date from the 1st century AD.
The ancient Vedas are hymns from between 1500 to 1000 BC that are among the earliest examples of literature in the world.
Contain dialogue and rituals

4. Sanskrit drama
The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is A Treatise on Theatre (Nātyaśāstra), an anthology whose date of composition is uncertain
(estimates range from 200 BC to 200 AD)
authorship is attributed to Bharata Muni.

5. Treatise addresses: Acting Dance Music Dramatic construction Costuming
Make-up
Props
Organization of companies
Audience
Competitions
Offers mythological account of the origin of theater

6. Drama is regarded as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature.
 It utilized stock characters, such as:
1. Hero (nayaka)
2. Heroine (nayika)
3. Clown (vidusaka)

7. Famous early playwrights
 Bhasa, Kalidasa (famous for Vikrama and Urvashi, Malavika and Agnimitra, and The Recognition of Shakuntala)
 Śudraka (famous for The Little Clay Cart)
 Asvaghosa
 Daṇḍin
 Emperor Harsha (famous for Nagananda,Ratnavali and Priyadarsika)

8. Modern Indian drama
Rabindranath Tagore, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, is probably India's best-known modern playwright. His plays are written in Bengali and include Chitra (Chitrangada, 1892), The King of the Dark Chamber (Raja, 1910), The Post Office(Dakghar, 1913), and Red Oleander (Raktakarabi, 1924).

9. Modern Urdu drama of India and Pakistan
Urdu Drama evolved from the prevailing dramatic traditions of North India shaping Rahas or Raas as practiced by exponents
Urdu theatre tradition has greatly influenced modern Indian theatre
Among all the languages Urdu (which was called Hindi by early writers), along with Gujrati, Marathi and Bengali theatres have kept flourishing and demand for its writers and artists has not subsided by the drama aficionados.
All the early gems of Urdu Theatre (performed by Parsi Companies) were made into films

10. The end