SHA^RACCmANDRA MUKTIBODH 63 stance, which was so popular in the period under consideration. Finally, he did not make use Oi" the popular form of short story. Muktibodh's variety of optimism, his affirmation of the ultimate triumph of man, is not based on ignorance of the seamy side of life or on unrealistically exaggerated ideas about human potentialities for self-improvement We see in his noveljan He Volutujethe (Where the Masses Meet) how clear and cautions he is in his ideas about the present and future struggles of man. Bhagwat, an important character that is introduced at a very critical stage in the novel, is a veteran trade unionist; but he does not regard the socialist revolution as the ultimate and adequate remedy for all human ills. After the fight for the material welfare of the toiling masses is won, the struggle for their spiritual well-being will begin; and it is here that the philosophy as developed in ancient India will prove to be of great help. Muktibodh's Marxist leanings are not difficult to see in his trilogy— Kshipra (it is the name of a river), Sarahadd (The Frontier), Jan He Volatujethe (where the masses meet)—and in the collections-of poems, Navi Malawat (The new path,) and Yatrik (The Pilgrim). But the best evidence can be found in the three critical books, Kahi Nibandha (Some Essays), Jeevan Ani Sahitya (Life and Literature), Srushti, Soundarya, Ani Sahitya Mulya (Nature, Beauty and Literary Value). But Muktibodh was a Marxist with a difference; and perhaps an orthodox Marxist would have felt uncomfortable in his company. In his Srushti he has tried to prove that the distinguishing mark of literature lies neither in rasa of the ancient Sanskrit theory nor in form, as Mardhekar has analysed it, but in the expression and assertion of the human essence (manushatd). It is doubtful whether his analysis of this central concept will be acceptable to the majority of Marxists, though many of them might not reject it outright. According to the Paris Manuscripts, the species-essence of man lies in free labour, free creativity. Conscious and freely willed labour distinguishes man from all other species. But in a class society, man is not the master of it; he has to use it merely for subsistence, Man is thus alienated from his species-essence, from the labour-process, from the product of his labour, from Nature, and from other human beings. When the production relations obtaining iti a class society are radically transformed by the proletarian revolution man will transcend his all-round self-alienation and win the long-cherished free creativity. Man will begin to create things that are ends in themselves, not merely means. His activities will be autotelic and self-fulfilling. An artist creating a work of art which is valuable in itself can serve as a good paradigm of the non-alienated man. Marx's picture of a free man sketched in German Ideology has given due importance to artistic activity. Muktibodh has Shown concern for the artist and his struggles with the environment. But the paradigm as art is not at the centre of his vision. Man's struggle, as conceived by him, is a struggle not for achieving free creativity, but for the establishment of certain eternal values which have been evolving over the ages : for example, maitri and karuna which were commonly shared by many ancient Indian systems like Buddhism, Yoga, Advaita etc. Hence the significance of Bhagwat ofJan^He.... Muktibodh's concept of human essence,