Satyavān, Husband of Sāvitrī
Satyavān was the husband of Sāvitrī. He was the son of Dyumatsena, a king of the Śālva kingdom who had lost his kingdom and lived as a forest ascetic. Satyavān was truthful, devoted and shining with light, and Sāvitrī chose him as her husband. Even when she learned that he would die within a year, she kept her choice.
The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells his story in Chapters 4–7 of the Dvitīya Khaṇḍa. The Mahābhārata tells it in the Vana Parva, Chapters 293–299.
Birth and background
Satyavān was the son of Dyumatsena, a former king of Śālva. Dyumatsena had lost both his sight and his kingdom. He lived as a forest ascetic with his wife in an āśrama near those of several ṛshis. Satyavān grew up in this simple life. He learned the ways of the forest, cared for his blind father with constant attention, and held strictly to truth. His name comes from this: satya is truth, and vān means one who has it.
After Sāvitrī had chosen him, the ṛshi Nārada described Satyavān’s virtues in the court of King Aśvapati. Nārada said that Satyavān was equal to his father in courage, to the sun in brightness, to Bṛhaspati in intelligence and to Indra in valour. He was truthful to the point that he had never once in his life told an untruth, in word, thought or action.
The one defect
The only shadow over Satyavān was the decree of his fate. He was to die exactly one year from the day Sāvitrī chose him. Nārada told this to Sāvitrī when she came back to announce her choice, and he urged her to think again. Sāvitrī held firm. She said that the worth of the ātmā (soul) matters more than the length of a life. A pativratā (faithful wife) makes her choice only once.
Marriage and life in the āśrama
Satyavān married Sāvitrī with all the rites of dharma. He welcomed her fully into the life of the āśrama. Sāvitrī put away her royal ornaments and took up the life of a woman of the āśrama. Satyavān went on serving his parents. Each day he went into the forest to gather wood and fruit, and he lived with Sāvitrī in complete harmony of dharma.
Death and return to life
On the day set for his death, Satyavān went with Sāvitrī to gather wood. After he had cut down a tree, a sudden, overpowering faintness came over him, and he laid his head in Sāvitrī’s lap. Yama, the deva of death, came with his messengers. He drew out Satyavān’s ātmā himself. It was a golden being the size of a thumb, of great radiance. Yama explained that an ātmā of such puṇya (merit) deserved to be led away by Yama himself.
Sāvitrī followed Yama southward. By her perfect wisdom and her arguments from dharma, she won three successive vara (boons) from Yama, and these obliged him to free Satyavān. Satyavān woke as if from deep sleep and went home with Sāvitrī. There they found that his father’s sight had been restored. News came that Dyumatsena’s enemies had been destroyed and his kingdom given back.
What the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says of his merit
The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says that Satyavān’s puṇya was so great that Yama came in person to lead his ātmā away. The messengers of Yama are usually sent for ordinary ātmās.
Sources
- Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa), Chapters 4–7
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 293–299