Mahesh Dattani's Contribution To Modern And Western Literature

Indian critical theories have been derelicted in preference to western theories for assessment of a text in English. Ironically, some scholars raise objection to applying these theories to a modern or western literature. In fact, there is no point in contending that Indian poetics cannot be applied to modern or western literature simply because it is based on Sanskrit literature or represents a specific literary culture. A literary theory, worth its name, always transcends the time and place of its origin. It is concerned with matters which are common to all literatures. Indian poetics, too, is no exception. It deals with questions of universal significance and can enrich our understanding of works of literature, particularly belonging to modern creed. The realm of poetics presents a most fascinating and exciting area of Indian scholarship and the theories propounded by Indian aestheticians are universally valid. Indian theories deal with each part of the literary text systematically. Thus, these theories have viability and validity in modern situation too. In order to illustrate the relevance of these ancient glorious theories in the modern context, I propose to analyse Mahesh Dattani’s play Tara in the light of Ācārya Kuntaka’s vakrokti-sidhanta with special reference to prakaraṇa vakratā (Episodic Obliquity). Kuntaka’s vakrokti is very comprehensive in scope. Its framework takes cognizance of a work from phonological level to the textual totality. He does not finish off