~ 292 ~ International Journal of Advanced Academic Studies 2022; 4(1): 292-295 E-ISSN: 2706-8927 P-ISSN: 2706-8919 www.allstudyjournal.com IJAAS 2022; 4(1): 292-295 Received: 01-01-2022 Accepted: 04-03-2022 Dr. Anju Gurawa Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Christopher Gunjan Kujur Research Scholar, Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Corresponding Author: Dr. Anju Gurawa Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi, India A critical analysis of Dalit literature and its development with special reference to Yogesh Maitreya’s flowers on the grave of caste Dr. Anju Gurawa and Christopher Gunjan Kujur Abstract The Paper aims to do an analysis of the development of Dalit literature and its related movements. The Dalit writing in India not only provides a narrative of pain and exploitation but has also helped in the formation of new aesthetic values. Dalit writers and critics hold different opinion about literature as compared to the literature practised by the mainstream writers. Their exclusion from elite historiography, derogatory representation and overall subjugation demands for a radical and revolutionary form of literature. Dalit literature has developed a lot from its inception and new trends have followed the movement. The writer would talk about these changes with the help of Yogesh Maiterya’s short story collection titled, “Flowers on the Grave”. Keywords: Dalit literature, caste hierarchy, aesthetics, mainstream literature Introductions The emergence of Dalit writing in India not only provides a narrative of pain and exploitation but has also helped in the formation of new aesthetic values. Dalit writers and critics hold a different opinion about literature as compared to the literature practiced by the mainstream writers. Their exclusion from the elite historiography, derogatory representation and overall subjugation demands for a radical and revolutionary form of literature. Dalit literature, unlike the main stream literature focuses on the social evils within the country and tries to achieve consciousness in the mind of readers against the exploitation of caste system. According to Dalit writers and critics the main stream Indian literature lacks functionality and more or less derives it’s meaning from parameters of beauty and pleasure. This preoccupation of mainstream writers with aesthetics of beauty and pleasure side- lines the prevailing inequality in the country. The Savarna aesthetic formula of Satyam (truth), Shivam (goodness), Sundaram (beauty) fails to represent Dalit atrocities and subjugation. The critique of caste system by Dalit writers and their representation of heroes, themes and thoughts transgresses the very idea of beauty and pleasure endorsed by the Savarna group of writers. Baburao Bagul a prominent Marathi Dalit writer in one of his essays argues that “the established literature of India is Hindu literature” which fails to provide the true representation of Dalits in their writings. Dalit writers like Sharankumar Limbale, Arjun Dangle, Omvedt Gail, Om Prakash Valmiki, Harish Mangalam and many more has expressed their incredulity and dissent towards the literary enterprise of mainstream Indian literature. According to them, the main stream Indian literature whenever plans to retaliate, it only ends up criticizing the British colonial rule. Hence, they only propagate agendas of anti- colonial consciousness, struggle of Independence, conflict between tradition and modernity, championing of the Indian civilization and likewise. On the other hand, marginalized communities perceive the colonial rule in many different terms which evades the general understanding of mainstream writers. K. Satyanarayna in his book The Exercise of Freedom: An Introduction to Dalit Writing states that marginal communities have a different point of view regarding the colonial rule as they “…did not oppose colonialism or think of it as anti- Indian rule. They adopted a strategic view of colonialism as a movement of structural reorganization of Indian society” (Satyanarayn 10). The description of national movements portraying different sections of Indian society uniting and mobilizing for a single cause of freedom in reality, ignored and obscured the prevailing inequalities within the nation during the time of colonial rule.