Sanskrit drama is part of Sanskrit literature, the classical literature of India, which flourished from about 1500 BC to about AD 1100. The earliest extant critical work on Sanskrit drama is attributed to Bharata, the legendary formulator of the dramatic art in India. That work, the Na ya-sastra (c.2d cent. AD) is relatively late but could be a reworking of a much earlier version. References to the drama and to dramatic criticism in the work of the grammarian Panini constitute a more certain indication of an early date for Sanskrit drama.