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Theatre and drama have been associated with religion in a Hindu context for many centuries. The link is certainly older than its literary documentation in the Nāṭyaśāstra ascribed to Bhārata (200–300 CE). The sacred dimension derived from the origin myth of theatre in this treatise and later commentaries was and is arguably not the only link between Hinduism and the performing arts. However, Indian and Western scholars alike continue to refer to the Nāṭyaśāstra, and there is an obvious tendency to invoke its textual “proof” of a divine origin of theatre and drama i…