In this episode, we perceive the core reason for the man’s parting, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 151, penned by Kavanmullai Bootharathanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape, the verse presents a vivid portrait of this domain.

தம் நயந்து உறைவோர்த் தாங்கி, தாம் நயந்து
இன் அமர் கேளிரொடு ஏமுறக் கெழீஇ,
நகுதல் ஆற்றார் நல்கூர்ந்தோர் என,
மிகு பொருள் நினையும் நெஞ்சமொடு அருள் பிறிது
ஆபமன் வாழி, தோழி! கால் விரிபு
உறுவளி எறிதொறும் கலங்கிய பொறி வரிக்
கலைமான் தலையின் முதல்முதற் கவர்த்த
கோடல்அம் கவட்ட குறுங் கால் உழுஞ்சில்
தாறு சினை விளைந்த நெற்றம், ஆடுமகள்
அரிக் கோற் பறையின், ஐயென ஒலிக்கும்
பதுக்கைத்து ஆய செதுக்கை நீழல்,
கள்ளி முள் அரைப் பொருந்தி, செல்லுநர்க்கு
உறுவது கூறும், சிறு செந் நாவின்
மணி ஓர்த்தன்ன தெண் குரல்
கணி வாய் பல்லிய காடு இறந்தோரே!

In this trip to the drylands, we perceive plenty of striking images and associations, as we listen to the lady say these words to her confidante, after the man has parted away in search of wealth:

“He lacks the ability to delight with and remain joyfully together with his pleasant kith and kin, protecting those who love him, and loving them in return, for he thinks of those, who are impoverished, and goaded by his heart, which wishes to earn much wealth, he forgets his grace and loses sympathy! Long may he live, my friend! In those wide spaces, where hot and strong winds blow forcefully, the branches of the short-trunked Lebbeck tree, akin to twisted antlers, bursting out for the first time from the head of a male deer, with dispersed dots and spots, shake with seed pods, akin to the pebble-filled sticks used to play on drums by dancing maiden, and resound with a sharp sound, near the hollow stone graves, in the diminished shade of those wild spaces, where holding on to the thorny trunks of cactuses, expressing right things to wayfarers, clear voices of fortune-telling lizards with short, red tongues tinkle, akin to bells. It is to such a scrub jungle, he has parted away to!”

Let’s walk on through those hot and arid spaces and understand the emotions expressed therein! The lady starts by talking about the man’s nature and remarks how he seems utterly incapable of simply laughing and remaining happy with those who love him. This is because his mind takes in the pitiable state of those who are impoverished and who come seeking to him. In order to alleviate their suffering, the man had decided to leave in search of wealth, the lady relates, talking about how he seems not to have any pity for her own state. Then, she goes on to describe the place he has left to and talks of the fiery winds, of how the branches of the Lebbeck tree, which she connects with the antlers of a male deer, shakes and the seed pods on that tree, resound like the drum sticks of dancing maiden, and of how lizards perched on trunks of cactuses, send out noises, that seem to announce the fortunes of wayfarers traversing that path!

The lady thus visualises in her mind’s eye, the desolate space the man walks, and attributes his reason for parting away to his noble nature of caring for the poor. In the process, the man has forgotten the ‘poor me’, the lady seems to say. The verse highlights the timeless conflict that often arises in an individual’s balancing act between serving the wider society and caring for those close at home!