This article critically examines the conceptual differences between Lalit (mainstream, Savarna) aesthetics and Dalit aesthetics in Indian literature. It argues that traditional Indian and Western aesthetic theories?rooted in imagination, ornamentation, and ?art for art?s sake??fail to represent the lived realities of marginalized communities. The study highlights Dalit literature as a product of self-experience, social realism, resistance, and protest, emphasizing suffering, revolt, and cry as core aesthetic elements. Drawing upon thinkers such as G. N. Devy, Sharan Kumar Limbale, Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore, and Ambedkarite ideology, the paper advocates the inclusion of new rasas??Revolt? and ?Cry??within the conventional rasa theory. It concludes that Dalit aesthetics foregrounds ?art for life?s sake,? balancing truth and beauty through social justice, realism, and humanitarian commitment.
Guest Faculty, Department of English, G. D. College, Begusarai
