Literature may be a universal phenomenon but it is also a product of a nation and finds expression of in a specific language. Comparative Literature has negotiated this dialectic of unity and multiplicity, national and universal, central and marginal that operate at the level of language, literature and culture from its birth to its alleged death. To an Indian rooted in the cultural heritage of Vasudhaiv- kutumbakam as well as rich multiplicity of hoary literary traditions, the idea of world literature sounds all very well if not avant-garde, though this humanistic notion is extremely problematic as it involves quite contentious issues of representation, canon, otherization, periodization, hegemony and homogenization