Bharata Muni was an ancient Indian writer whose life has been dated variously from the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century. His best known work is the 'Natya Shastra', a theoretical treatise on Indian performance, including theater, dance, acting, and music, which has been compared to Aristotle's Poetics. The classical dance form Bharath Naty is codified in Natya Shastra. He classifies Indian theatrical forms in to 10 forms and drama(Natak) is just one among such forms. Other forms are Dima, Bana, etc....Bharata as he is called is traeted as the father of Indian theatrical arts.