Savitri- Hindu FigureMortal"Pativrata"

Birth and the Choice of Husband

Savitri was the daughter of King Ashvapati of Madra, born through his devoted worship of the solar goddess Savitri (from whom she took her name). So radiant and accomplished was the princess that no suitor dared approach her. Ashvapati, concerned, sent her to find her own husband. Traveling through forests and hermitages, Savitri encountered Satyavan, the exiled son of the blind king Dyumatsena of Shalva, who lived as a woodcutter in the forest. She chose him immediately. When the sage Narada warned Ashvapati that Satyavan was destined to die exactly one year from that day, Savitri refused to reconsider. She declared that a woman chooses her husband only once, and married Satyavan knowing the precise date of his death.

The Appointed Day

Savitri spent the year in the forest with Satyavan, living the austere life of a hermitage dweller while silently counting down the days. As the fated day approached, she undertook a three-day vow of fasting and vigil. On the morning of the final day, she insisted on accompanying Satyavan into the forest as he went to cut wood. While chopping a tree, Satyavan was seized by a sudden, overwhelming pain in his head. He staggered to Savitri, laid his head in her lap, and died. Yama himself, not his messengers but the lord of death in person, carrying his noose, appeared to extract Satyavan's soul.

Following Yama

Yama drew Satyavan's thumb-sized soul from his body with his noose and began walking south toward the realm of the dead. Savitri rose and followed him. Yama told her to turn back; her duty to her husband's body was complete, and no mortal could walk this path. Savitri refused, saying that wherever her husband went, she would follow, for that was the eternal dharma of a wife. Impressed by her resolve, Yama offered her a boon: anything except Satyavan's life. Savitri asked for the restoration of her father-in-law Dyumatsena's sight. Granted.

The Five Boons

Savitri continued to follow Yama, and her persistent discourse on righteousness compelled him to offer boon after boon. She asked for Dyumatsena's lost kingdom to be restored. Granted. She asked for her own father to have a hundred sons. Granted. She asked for a hundred sons for herself. Granted. And in that moment, Yama realized his error. Savitri could not bear a hundred sons without a living husband, and she had vowed never to take another. Bound by his own word, Yama had no choice but to release Satyavan's soul.

Return and Restoration

Savitri walked back through the forest and found Satyavan's body, which stirred and woke as if from sleep. He remembered nothing of death. They returned to the hermitage to find Dyumatsena's sight miraculously restored. Messengers soon arrived with news that the usurper of Shalva had been overthrown and Dyumatsena's kingdom awaited him. Every boon Savitri had won from Yama was fulfilled. The Vat Savitri Vrata, observed annually by married Hindu women who fast and tie threads around a banyan tree (the species under which Satyavan died), commemorates her victory over death.