Sāvitrī’s Stotra to Yamadharmarāja

Sāvitrī’s Stotra to Yamadharmarāja is the hymn of praise (stotra) that Sāvitrī offered to Yamadharmarāja when she followed him to win back the jīva (living being) of her husband Satyavān. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives it in the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 28.

In this account Sāvitrī does not only argue or reason with Yama. She praises him with deep knowledge of his nature and work, and through this stotra she obtains the vara (boon) of Satyavān’s life.

The setting

Sāvitrī is the daughter of King Aśvapati and the wife of the young ṛshi-prince Satyavān. Satyavān’s father Dyumatsena lost his kingdom and went blind, and the family withdrew to the forest.

Sāvitrī knew in advance, from the ṛshi Nārada, that Satyavān would die within a year of their marriage. On the fated day Satyavān fell and died while cutting wood in the forest. Yamadharmarāja came and took his jīva. Sāvitrī followed Yama and refused to return without her husband.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells this episode with a stotra of Yama, the hymn she offered while she followed him in pursuit of Satyavān’s jīva.

The stotra

The stotra praises Yamadharmarāja in his true nature, not only as the deva of death. He is:

  • the upholder of dharma;
  • the witness of all karma;
  • the impartial ruler of the realm of the dead;
  • the son of Vivasvān (Sūrya);
  • the twin of Yamī, who is the river Yamunā;
  • the one whom Kṛshṇa appointed as the guardian of dharma in the created worlds.

Sāvitrī accepts that Yama’s justice is dharma. She does not challenge his right. She speaks to him with reverence and shows her own purity and wisdom.

The varas Sāvitrī obtained

Yama was deeply pleased by the sincerity of the stotra and by the perfection of her pātivratā-dharma (the dharma of a wife devoted to her husband). He gave her one vara after another. Her persistence in following Yama, her pātivratā virtue, and the stotra offered with devotion brought them.

  1. Restoration of Dyumatsena’s sight
  2. Restoration of Dyumatsena’s lost kingdom
  3. Sons for herself
  4. Satyavān’s life itself

Yama was bound by his own dharma and moved by Sāvitrī’s virtue. He released Satyavān’s jīva.

Sources

  • Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 28