Of around 155 extant Sanskrit plays,^{[lower-alpha 1]} at least 46 distinct plays by at least 24 authors have been translated into English. William Jones published the first English translation of any Sanskrit play (Shakuntala) in 1789. About 3 decades later, Horace Hayman Wilson published the first major English survey of Sanskrit drama, including 6 full translations (Mṛcchakatika, Vikramōrvaśīyam, Uttararamacarita, Malatimadhava, Mudrarakshasa, and Ratnavali). These 7 plays — plus Nagananda, Mālavikāgnimitram, and Svapnavasavadattam (the text of which was not discovered until almost a century after Wilson's volumes) — remain the most-translated plays.

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Sir William Jones

Horace Hayman Wilson

Jones published the first English translation of any Sanskrit play (Śakuntalā) in 1789. In 1827, Wilson published the first major survey of Sanskrit drama in English.

The period of Sanskrit dramas in India begins roughly with the composition of the Natya Shastra (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE) — though this treatise evidences a mature theatrical practice already in existence. Literarily, the period dwindles around the composition of the Natya Shatra's influential abridgment: Dasharupakam (late 10th century CE) — though derivative works continued to be written. "Sanskrit drama" typically contains a mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit though, for example, Bhāsa's Dūtavākya contains no Prakrit,^[2] and Rajashekhara's Karpuramanjari is written entirely in Prakrit.^[3]