In this poem a king orders one of his subjects to sacrifice his house and land for a royal pleasure garden. The poor subject faced total disaster when the king issued a decree and forcibly acquired the land – he threw the hapless man and his family out to survive on nothing. They became homeless vagrants, roamed from place to place and tried to survive.
Many years later nostalgia for his village and a desire to see his familiar surroundings brought him back to his native town. The royal pleasure garden bore no resemblance to what he remembered as his land. But in one corner he found his favorite old mango tree still bearing luscious fruit. He sat under this tree, his only thread with the past, and picked two ripe mangoes. A guard saw him and took him before the king who accused him of stealing from the royal garden.
The poem ends on an ironic note – who should be called the thief?
Timeless Textiles of India 