Which Sanskrit text on performing arts is attributed to Bharata Muni?

The Sanskrit text on performing arts attributed to Bharata Muni is the Natya Shastra.

Compiled in India roughly between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the Natya Shastra is traditionally associated with the sage Bharata. It treats drama as a complete art, covering playwriting, stage construction, acting, gesture, costume, makeup, music, dance, and performance settings. Its scope is far broader than a modern theatre manual.

The work is especially famous for rasa theory, which explains how performance evokes aesthetic experiences such as love, laughter, anger, heroism, compassion, fear, disgust, and wonder. Later Indian dance and theatre traditions drew heavily on its ideas. A commonly missed detail is that “Natya” includes dramatic performance generally, not just dance; it is therefore misleading to label the text solely a dance treatise. Manusmriti concerns dharma and social law, Arthashastra statecraft, and Kama Sutra erotic and domestic life.