Savitri

Savitri

ALSO KNOWN AS:

Sabitri

ORIGIN:

India

A childless king prayed fervently to the goddess Savitri, Daughter of the Sun, who answered his prayers. In gratitude, the resulting baby girl was named in the goddess’ honor, but the infant bore more than the goddess’ name. The king’s wife had given birth to an avatar of Savitri who would one day outwit Death and become the star of one of India’s most beloved myths.

Savitri was an extraordinary girl: so beautiful, brilliant, and charismatic that she intimidated all potential suitors. When no one asked for her hand in marriage, the king told her to find her own husband. Savitri searched and fell in love with Satyavan, the son of a blind king living in exile in the forest. Although discouraged from marrying him, she insisted, making a sacred vow that she would only ever choose one husband and Satyavan was that one. It was him or no one.

For almost a year, Savitri and Satyavan lived happily together in the forest. In some versions, an oracle had warned that Satyavan would die exactly one year after his marriage, and so Savitri was forewarned and prepared. In others Savitri, possessing the powers of a goddess, recognized ominous portents and her actions were spontaneous. She begged her husband not to go into the forest and chop wood, but he insisted so she accompanied him. He died before her eyes.

Lord Yama came to carry Satyavan to the Realm of Death. Savitri spoke directly to the Death Lord, begging him to allow her husband to live. Shocked that she could see him when he should be invisible to mortal eyes, Yama comforted her but advised that Death is irrefutable: it was Satyavan’s time to go. Yama departed with Satyavan, but Savitri followed, beseeching him, talking with him, arguing sophisticated metaphysical points with him. Yama ordered her to go back home, but Savitri persevered, following him over the River of Fire separating the realms of death and life. Finally Yama stopped, shocked that a living being had come so far (and finally realizing that Savitri was more than a woman).

Savitri’s actions threatened world order:

• If she burned in the flames and died before her allotted time, she would throw the Akashic records out of whack.

• If she survived to enter the Realm of Death while alive, the entire order of the universe would be threatened.

Yama stopped ordering her to return and began to negotiate. He offered her three wishes if she would turn back, anything but the resurrection of her husband. She accepted his offer. Her first wish was that her elderly parents would bear sons. Her second was that her father-in-law regain his vision, and her third and final wish was to bear sons worthy of her dead husband. The first two wishes seemed so innocuous that Yama agreed to the third without paying attention to the nuances embedded in her words.How, Savitri asked him, now smiling, can she bear those sons without the participation of her living husband? Foiled and bound by his oath, Yama told her that Satyavan’s life was now irrevocably tied to hers: he could live but only for the exact length of Savitri’s life. They lived happily ever after until they died together.

Savitri’s tale can be interpreted as an affirmation or a rejection of sati, the tradition of a living wife accompanying her dead husband on his funeral pyre. On one hand, a couple dying together is presented as the ideal; on the other, Yama rejects Savitri’s attempt to enter the River of Flames as against the natural order.

The earliest documented rendition of this story is in the epic Mahabharata, which dates back two thousand years although based on even earlier oral traditions. Savitri’s story remains incredibly popular in India: the subject of books, films, and comic books. Savitri is the embodiment of the perfect wife. When offered anything in the world, her wishes are unselfish and intended to bring joy to both her birth family and that of her husband.

Savitri is the guardian spirit of devoted wives. Her story begins and ends with fertility miracles: Savitri still assists the reproductively challenged. Women invoke her for the safety of their husbands. The Savitri prayer, the prayer to the sun, which her father repeated for years in hopes of a child, is found in the Rig Veda and is recited at dawn while facing east and at sunset while facing west.

MANIFESTATION:

Savitri the goddess is described as having golden eyes and golden hands.

PLANET:

Sun

SEE ALSO:

Sati; Yama

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses – Written by : Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.