Tamilmanam International Research Journal of Tamil Studies

The boundless desires and greeds that arise in this human birth bind mankind to worldly attachments. The human mind constantly yearns for everything—from daily necessities to luxury items like the food one eats, the clothes one wears, the place one resides, and the ornaments one adorns—to be exactly according to its desires. Even after all such worldly needs are fulfilled, the human mind remains unsatisfied, crossing the boundary of "sufficiency" and wandering further and further.

The novel Yathi, written by Pa. Raghavan, extensively explores the lifestyle and spiritual journey of ascetics (sanyasis) who completely detach and isolate themselves from such worldly illusions and attachments.

Through the characters of the novel Yathi, this paper comprehensively examines and compares the strict lifestyle disciplines, dietary habits, detachment from family relationships, and the philosophy of solitude of ascetics with traditional Tamil literary conventions. The primary objective of this research paper is to analyze the internal and external worlds of ascetics—who, disillusioned with worldly life, move toward God in search of ultimate truth—within a contemporary literary framework.