Sāvitrī and Satyavān (Bhavishya Purāṇa)

The Bhavishya Purāṇa, in the Uttara Parva, tells the account of Sāvitrī, the princess of Madra. She chose Satyavān as her husband although Nārada warned that he had only one year to live. By the strength of her pativratā (devoted wife’s) vow she followed Yama himself and won back her husband’s life through five varas (boons). This narrative is the base of the Sāvitrī vrata (a vow with fasting and worship). The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells of Sāvitrī and Yama in another way, and that account is given at the end.

Aśvapati and the birth of Sāvitrī

In ancient times the kingdom of Madra (the Panjab region of today) was ruled by the great king Aśvapati. He was known for truth, patience, self-control and kind rule. For many years he and his queen had no child. He took up a hard vrata and worshipped Devī Sāvitrī (who is identified with Sarasvatī) with full devotion. After some time the devī appeared before him and gave him a vara: she herself would be born as his daughter. In time a divine daughter was born. Aśvapati named her Sāvitrī and raised her with great love.

Sāvitrī grew up and kept the Sāvitrī vrata under the guidance of Bhṛgu Maharshi. She became famous for her beauty and her spiritual shine. When she was old enough to marry, Aśvapati looked for a good husband and found no one he thought worthy. So he did something unusual. He gave Sāvitrī herself the right to choose, and sent her out with elder ministers and trusted relatives to search the tīrthas, the āśramas and the royal courts of the land.

The choice of Satyavān

Sāvitrī came back after a long journey and found her father talking with the divine ṛshi Nārada. She bowed to both and said that she had chosen. She wished to marry Satyavān, son of the blind and exiled king Dyumatsena of Śālvadeśa. Satyavān was a man of perfect virtue, living in the forest.

Nārada leaned forward at once, full of concern. He said to the king: “Sāvitrī’s choice is not wrong. Satyavān is truly good and worthy. But his life is very short. Exactly one year from today, death is written for him.” King Aśvapati turned to Sāvitrī and asked her to think again.

Sāvitrī answered with a verse that has been repeated through the ages:

Sakṛjjalpanti rājānaḥ sakṛjjalpanti paṇḍitāḥ |
sakṛt pradīyate kanyā trīṇyetāni sakṛt sakṛt ||

“A king’s command is spoken once. A scholar’s decision is stated once. A maiden is given once. These three are done once and are not repeated.” She went on: “Whether Satyavān’s life is long or short, whether he has virtues or not, I have chosen him. I cannot think of any other man as my husband.”

Nārada heard these words of dharma, spoken so clearly, and was moved. He blessed the king and said the marriage should be held without delay. The wedding was held in the proper way.

The year of waiting

Sāvitrī went to live in the forest āśrama with her husband and his parents. She served her blind father-in-law Dyumatsena and her mother-in-law with full devotion. She wore bark clothes and kept the disciplines of forest life. Nārada’s words never left her mind.

As the year came to its end, she began the three-night trairātrika vrata. She fasted, meditated on Devī Sāvitrī and prepared herself for the day her husband was to die. On the fourth day she bowed to her in-laws, received their blessings and stood ready.

On that morning Satyavān went into the forest to gather firewood, a duty given to him. Sāvitrī insisted on going with him. After a short pause her in-laws agreed, for they knew she was no ordinary woman. In the forest Satyavān finished his work and loaded the bundle of wood. Then a terrible headache struck him, and he lay down with his head in Sāvitrī’s lap.

Sāvitrī meets Yama

Sāvitrī sat still, holding her husband. She saw a tall dark figure coming. It was Dharmarāja Yama himself. He had come in person because his servants could not take hold of Satyavān in the presence of so great a pativratā. Yama drew the thumb-sized prāṇa out of Satyavān’s body and began to walk south, the direction of his realm.

Sāvitrī rose and followed. Yama turned and said to her: “Pativratā, the road ahead is full of suffering and crying. Turn back.”

Sāvitrī answered in steady words:

Satāṃ santho gatir nānyā strīṇāṃ bhartā sadā gatiḥ |
vedo varṇāśramāṇāṃ ca śishyāṇāṃ ca gatir guruḥ ||

“The path of the righteous is through the company of the holy. The Veda is the support of all the varṇāśramas. The guru is the refuge of students. In the same way the husband is the only refuge, path and protection of a wife. I follow where he goes.”

Yama was very pleased with her words, which were full of dharma, skill and courage. He told her she could ask for any vara except the life of Satyavān.

The five varas

Sāvitrī asked for five varas. Each was granted. They were:

1. That her father-in-law Dyumatsena receive his eyesight and his kingdom again.
2. That her father Aśvapati have one hundred sons.
3. That her husband Satyavān live a long life. Here Yama paused, but he was bound by his own word and agreed.
4. That she herself have one hundred sons.
5. That she and her husband live together in dharma to the end of their lives.

Yama had already given his word, and he granted all five. He then went back to the forest and gave Satyavān’s prāṇa back to him. Yama blessed the husband and wife who were together again, and left for his own realm.

Satyavān woke as if from sleep. Sāvitrī led him home, glad and calm. She told her in-laws everything that had happened. What had seemed impossible, the defeat of death itself, had come about through the power of Sāvitrī’s pativratā-dharma, her Sāvitrī vrata and her firm knowledge of truth.

The Sāvitrī vrata

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then tells Yudhishṭhira how the Sāvitrī vrata is kept. Women who wish for saubhāgya (a happy married life) should keep the three-night vrata, starting on Bhādrapada śukla Trayodaśī. An image of Devī Sāvitrī with Brahmā, made of gold, silver or clay, is set in a bamboo vessel and covered with two red cloths. It is worshipped with flowers, incense, a lamp and naivedya (food offered). Seasonal fruits, coconut, jaggery, a sacred thread (sāvitrī-sūtra) and saptadhānya (seven grains) are offered. A night vigil with song, music and dance follows. On Paurṇamāsī the image is given to a learned brāhmaṇa.

The Purāṇa also gives another form of the vrata. On Jyeshṭha amāvāsyā, an image of Sāvitrī with Satyavān and a bundle of firewood is set under a fig tree and worshipped there. Women who keep this vrata gain putra (sons), pautra (grandsons) and dhana (wealth), and in the end reach Brahmaloka together with their husbands.

Sāvitrī in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

The Prakṛti Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells of Sāvitrī and Yama in a different way. There the meeting of Sāvitrī and Yama is the occasion for a long talk on karma, on what happens to beings after death, and on the narakakuṇḍas (the pits of naraka, hell). This talk runs through chapters 23 to 34.

In this account Yama is a Vaishṇava, and he acts as Dharmarāja under the highest authority of Śrī Kṛshṇa. He teaches Sāvitrī how karma gives its results: how each ātmā is weighed, which narakakuṇḍas go with which kinds of adharma, and how freedom from the round of punishment and rebirth finally rests on bhakti.

In the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Sāvitrī is the fourth form of Mūla Prakṛti. She is vedamātā, the mother of all the Vedas, the vedāṅgas, the chandas (Vedic metres), the saṃdhyāvandana mantras and the tantras. She is brahmateja-virajitā (shining with the radiance of Brahman) and as pure as crystal. She gives moksha to all who meditate on her. So the Sāvitrī who was Aśvapati’s daughter and Satyavān’s wife is also one of the five main divine śaktis, and her pativratā power belongs to her very nature.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 102 (Sāvitrī and Satyavān; the five varas; the Sāvitrī vrata)
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1 and 23 to 34 (Sāvitrī and Yama; Sāvitrī as the fourth form of Mūla Prakṛti)