This book has critically analysed the relations of influence and resistance between post-independence Indian theatre and Brechtian aesthetics. The study has shown that post-independence Indian drama is a cultural palimpsest – a site celebrating the dialogue between Western and Indian theatrical traditions – rather than an isolated category. The post-independence period in India was a period of inherent political and cultural turmoil as the new nation sought fresh literary models to decolonise itself. While Indian playwrights borrowed from the West during this period, these new Western “transplant[s]” remained indicative of “cultural surgery” (Ngugi, “Europhonism” 3). Against the backdrop of this spirit of cultural resistance, over five chapters, I have “re-read” the notion of “influence” while examining the impact of Brechtian aesthetics on Indian theatre. Within the framework of the discourse of influence, my book has argued that Brechtian theatre in India is not inferior but on par with the idea of Brechtian theatre in Europe. By exploring the distinct uses of Brechtian aesthetics in India and focusing on the local voices and native influences that were active in the formation of the Indian variants of Brechtian theatre I have underlined its pharmakonic character. At the same time, I have shown that Brechtian theatre in India is more than the sum of Brecht’s original ideas, and thus it challenges any attempts to present it as the invention of the West.