Dyumatsena
Dyumatsena, simply known as Dyumatsena, Sanskrit: द्युमत्सेन, Telugu: ద్యుమత్సేనుడు, Hindi: द्युमत्सेन.
Dyumatsena was the king of the Śālva kingdom. He lost his sight, and then an enemy took his throne. He lived in the forest with his wife Śaibya and his son Satyavat. He is best known as the father-in-law of Sāvitrī. Her devotion to her husband, her pativratā vow, brought back both his sight and his kingdom.
Loss of the kingdom
Dyumatsena ruled the Śālva kingdom, a line of old royal standing. During his reign he lost his sight. Blindness made it hard for him to rule. An enemy, a neighbouring king who saw his chance, took the kingdom and drove him out.
Dyumatsena could not win back the throne without his sight. He went with his wife Śaibya and his young son Satyavat to a forest hermitage near the āśramas of various ṛshis.
In the forest he lived as a tapasvin (one who practises tapas, austerity). He did the yajñas (fire rituals) that fitted his state. He accepted with calm humility how far his life had fallen.
Satyavat
Dyumatsena’s son Satyavat grew up in the forest hermitage. He served his blind father with devotion.
Aśvapati asked the ṛshi Nārada whether Satyavat would be a fit husband for Sāvitrī. Nārada said that Satyavat was equal to Dyumatsena in courage, to Bṛhaspati in mind, to the sun in radiance and to Indra in valour. He had never once told a lie. His one fault was his fate: Satyavat would die in exactly one year.
The marriage of Sāvitrī
Sāvitrī came to Dyumatsena’s forest hermitage and said she wished to marry Satyavat. Dyumatsena and his wife welcomed her with due hospitality. Aśvapati also came himself to offer Sāvitrī to Dyumatsena as his daughter-in-law. It was a mark of respect from one king to another, even though Dyumatsena had lost so much.
Dyumatsena hesitated. He was a blind forest-dweller without a kingdom, he said, and not a fit match for the princess of a rich kingdom. But Sāvitrī was sincere, and Aśvapati held firmly to dharma. So Dyumatsena agreed.
The marriage was held. Sāvitrī came to live in the forest hermitage. She wore bark garments and took up life in the tapovana (forest of austerity).
From the day she came, Dyumatsena treated Sāvitrī as his own daughter. She was always Sāvitrī to him, never only a daughter-in-law.
The return of his sight and kingdom
Satyavat went into the forest with Sāvitrī and died. He came into the keeping of Bhagavān Yama. That same day Dyumatsena’s sight came back. This was the result of the first vara (boon) that Sāvitrī had won from Bhagavān Yama as she followed him.
Satyavat and Sāvitrī came back to the hermitage at dusk. Dyumatsena was among those who had been searching for them in worry. He saw them return, because his sight had been restored while they were away.
Soon after, messengers came from the Śālva kingdom. The enemy who had driven Dyumatsena from his throne had been killed. The messengers could not say exactly when. The kingdom was now free of the usurper, and they asked Dyumatsena to come back and take what was rightfully his. This was the result of Sāvitrī’s second vara.
Return to the kingdom
Dyumatsena went back to his kingdom. His sight was restored, his son was alive, his daughter-in-law had triumphed, and his throne was his again. All this came through the power of Sāvitrī’s pativratā, her faithful love and wisdom.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 293–299
- Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa), Chapters 4–7