Indian Aesthetics has been under the spell of the poetics of Sanskrit or the aesthetic theory of European literature. It has proved itself a big failure to wear a pan Indian aesthetic perspective. The conventional literary output, in other words, the mainstream literature could not bring forth the truth of society in its entirety. Foggy verbalism kept ruling the roost in mainstream literature. With the change of circumstances, almost everything in every sphere of life has undergone a lot of changes. But what still remains unchanged is really the mentality of Lalit (Caste Hindu) writers as well as the sensibility of Indian literary theory. The old and worn-out ethics and aesthetics of literature is still in vogue. It comes to happen despite the fact that Dalit literature has now taken a long stride, with literary outputs galore in diverse Indian languages including Indian English. De facto, both jewellery and pottery can't be manufactured using the same tools. Similarly, Lalit literature and Dalit literature can't be assessed and interpreted applying the already established aesthetical aspects. One need not forget that beauty lies not in objects but in the eyes of the beholder. Aesthetics of literature, Lalit or Dalit or both, depends on the Rasa theory. Dalit critics lay much stress for the inclusion of the two other rasas, such as 'Revolt' and 'Cry', with the conventional nine rasas that are supposed not to be fit for the assessment of Dalit literature or Dalit art of work. The paper in question makes a humble attempt to explore the comparisons and contrasts between the aesthetic concept of Lalit literature and that of Dalit literature in the light of two books: G N Devy's Indian Literary Criticism (2009) and Sharankumar's Towards an Aesthetics of Dalit Literature (2010). Needless to say that the mainstream literature focuses particularly on the art for art's sake theory whereas the marginal literature sheds light on the art for life's sake theory in general and on the art for Dalit's life sake theory in particular.
Guest Faculty, Department of English, G. D. College, Begusarai
