Sāvitrī Upākhyāna (Mahābhārata)

The Sāvitrī Upākhyāna is the account that the ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya tells Yudhishṭhira in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata. It tells how Sāvitrī followed Yamadharmarāja himself and returned with the life of her husband Satyavat. An upākhyāna is a story told inside a larger text.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells it to console Yudhishṭhira. The Pāṇḍavas are living in the forest, and the account shows what a faithful wife can do. The account runs from Chapter 293 to Chapter 299.

Aśvapati’s Puṃsavana vrata and Sāvitrī’s birth

Aśvapati, king of the Madra country, had no children. To win a child he kept the puṃsavana vrata, a strict vow with yajña, for eighteen years without a break. Every day at dusk he offered one oblation into the fire. He ate little, held his senses in check and kept the vow with full discipline.

When the eighteen years were over, Sāvitrī Devī herself appeared from the yajña fire, shining and in bodily form. She was pleased with Aśvapati’s tapas (austerity) and came to grant his wish. Aśvapati asked for a son to carry on his line. Sāvitrī Devī gave him a daughter of rare quality instead, and said that she herself would be born as his daughter.

In time a girl was born, of great beauty, inner light and spiritual strength. She was named Sāvitrī after the devī who had granted her.

Sāvitrī grows up and chooses Satyavat

Sāvitrī grew up, but no worthy husband came. Her great quality made every possible suitor shy of asking for her. Aśvapati saw that she could judge for herself. He sent her out with trusted ministers and elders to visit the āśramas (hermitages) and the royal courts and to find a husband for herself.

She travelled far and visited the forest āśramas. There she found Satyavat, the son of the blind king Dyumatsena. Dyumatsena had lost his kingdom and lived in the forest as an ascetic with his wife. Satyavat served his blind father with devotion, lived in complete truth and had an unmistakable nobility.

When Sāvitrī came back to Aśvapati and told him her choice, the ṛshi Nārada happened to be there. He told Aśvapati what he knew of Satyavat. The young man had every virtue. His courage matched his father’s, his intelligence matched Bṛhaspati’s, his radiance matched the sun’s and his valour matched Indra’s. He had one fault only: he was fated to die in exactly one year.

Sāvitrī will not change her choice

Aśvapati heard that Satyavat would die soon, and he urged Sāvitrī to choose again. Sāvitrī answered with the words that mark this whole account:

“A maiden’s choice is made once. A king’s command is given once. A scholar’s knowledge is declared once. These three happen only once. I have chosen. Whether Satyavat has a long life or a short one, whether he has virtues or faults, he is the one I have chosen, and I think of no other as my husband.”

Nārada was moved by the depth of her resolve and blessed the marriage. The wedding was held in the proper way. Sāvitrī went to live with Satyavat in the forest āśrama. She wore bark clothes, took up the full discipline of life in the tapovana (forest of austerity) and served Dyumatsena and his wife with complete devotion.

The trirātra vrata

The year that Nārada had named came to its end. Sāvitrī kept the trirātra vrata, three nights of fasting, wakefulness and prayer. She did this to prepare for the fourth day, which she knew was the day of Satyavat’s death. Her husband’s parents worried about her hard austerity, but she stayed firm through the three nights.

On the morning of the fourth day she took the blessings of Dyumatsena and his wife and went into the forest with Satyavat. His parents were puzzled that she insisted on going with him that day, since she might usually have stayed behind. They gave their permission.

Yama comes and Sāvitrī follows

In the forest Satyavat was cutting wood from a tree when a sudden, terrible headache struck him. He came to Sāvitrī and asked to rest. She settled him with his head in her lap.

Yama then came in his own form. He was dark in colour, wore yellow and red clothes and carried his noose (pāśa). His eyes burned with the fierce light that belongs to the deva of death. He drew out Satyavat’s jīva (the subtle being), thumb-sized and shining, and turned south towards Yamapurī. Sāvitrī rose and followed.

Again and again Yama turned and told her to go back. Each time she answered him with arguments from dharma. She spoke of a wife’s unbroken oneness with her husband, of the journey of the ātmā (soul) and of the duties of a life of dharma. Her words were exact and full enough that Yama stopped, agreed that they were right and offered her a vara (a boon) if she would go back. Each time she accepted the vara and still refused to turn back.

The four varas

First vara. Sāvitrī asked that Dyumatsena’s sight be restored. Yama granted it.

Second vara. Sāvitrī asked that Dyumatsena’s kingdom be given back to him and that his enemies be destroyed. Yama granted it.

Third vara. Sāvitrī asked for a hundred sons for her father Aśvapati by his Mālavī wife. Yama granted it. The Vana Parva says that these hundred sons became the forefathers of the Mālava people.

Fourth vara. Sāvitrī asked for a hundred sons for herself. Yama was moved by her steadiness and wisdom and granted it. Then he saw the trap he had stepped into. For Sāvitrī to have a hundred sons she needed her husband, so Satyavat’s life was now Yama’s own duty to give.

Yama, a deva who keeps dharma, accepted the point without a struggle. He gave Satyavat his life in full, blessed them both and went away.

The return and the end of the exile

Satyavat woke as if from deep sleep and walked back to the āśrama with Sāvitrī. When they arrived, they found the āśrama full of ṛshis. Dyumatsena had been searching for them in worry. And there was more: Dyumatsena’s sight had come back, just as Yama had promised.

Messengers came from Dyumatsena’s old kingdom with news. The usurpers who had driven Dyumatsena from his throne had been killed, and the kingdom was his again. Dyumatsena was free to go back as king.

Mārkaṇḍeya’s closing words

In Chapter 299 Mārkaṇḍeya ends the account by returning to the reason he began it, which was to console Yudhishṭhira. Sāvitrī, through her faithfulness to her husband, her wisdom and her steady focus, overcame even Yama. In the same way, Mārkaṇḍeya says, the faithfulness of Draupadī and the dharma of her husbands will carry the Pāṇḍavas through the great darkness they now face.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 293 to 299 (the Sāvitrī Upākhyāna)