यतो हस्त: ततो दृष्टि: यतो दृष्टि: ततो मन: यतो मन: ततो भाव: यतो भाव ततो रस: ॥
Where go the hands, goes the gaze; where goes the gaze, poses the mind; where there is mind, feelings follow; where the feelings rule sovereign, rasa arises.

-Abhinaya Darpana (The Mirror of Gesture), Nandikeshvara

Nātyaśāstra (200 BC - 200 AD) is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theater, dance and music. Composed in classical Saṃskṛta, it is traditionally attributed to the sage Bharata. While it primarily deals with stagecraft, it has come to influence music, classical Indian dance, and literature as well. It covers stage design, music, dance, makeup, and virtually every other aspect of stagecraft. atyashastra remained an important text in the fine arts for many centuries; so much so that it is sometimes referred to as the fifth veda.