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In Goloka, Sri Narayana was telling Narada an old story. In the land of Madra, King Ashwapati worshipped the goddess Savitri, mother of the Vedas, exactly as the rites prescribed, and when he closed his praise with the stotraraja, the king of hymns distilled from the mantras, the goddess appeared before him, blazing with a light like a thousand suns. Her radiance lit up every direction, and she smiled, her face bright with joy. In a voice as tender as a mother speaking to her son, she told the king that she knew the longing in his heart, and the longing in his wife’s heart as well. His devoted wife wished for a daughter, and he wished for a son; both desires would be granted, each in its turn. With that the goddess departed for Brahmaloka, and the king returned to his home.
The Daughter Named Savitri
In time a daughter was born to the king before any son. By the power of his worship of the goddess Savitri, it was the exalted goddess Kamala herself who had descended into the form of that girl. Ashwapati named the child Savitri. Like the moon in the bright fortnight she grew fuller day by day, and in due course she came into her beauty and her youth. When she was grown she chose her own husband, Satyavan, the son of Dyumatsena, a young man devoted to truth, upright in conduct, and rich in many virtues. The king adorned her with jewels and gave her into his keeping, and Satyavan, overjoyed, took her home.
The Fall from the Tree
A year passed after the wedding. One day the valiant Satyavan, at his father’s command, went into the forest to bring back fruit and firewood, and the devoted Savitri followed close behind him. By the turning of fate Satyavan fell from a tree, and the breath left his body. At that very moment Yama, the lord of the southern quarter, arrived, and he took hold of the dead Satyavan’s subtle body, no larger than a thumb, and set out to depart. When that Dharmaraja, lord of the city of Samyamani and the greatest among the righteous, saw the beautiful woman following behind him, he spoke to her in a gentle voice.
Savitri, he said, where are you going, still wearing this human body? If you wish to go with your husband, first lay this body down, for a mortal, who is subject to decay, can never enter our world carrying this perishable frame made of the five elements. O devoted one, your husband, who was born into Bharatavarsha, has now reached the end of his allotted years; Satyavan comes to our world to taste the fruit of his own deeds. A creature receives birth and death according to its karma, and its pleasure, pain, fear, and grief arise from karma as well. By the force of his own karma a soul may become Indra, or a son of Brahma, or a servant of Hari freed from the bondage of birth and death; and by that same karma he may fall into the birth of a tree, a beast, an insect, or a demon. Having said this, Yama fell silent.
Savitri’s Questions to Yama
But Savitri did not weep. Faithful to her husband and firm in her resolve, that woman of a strong mind praised Dharmaraja with the deepest devotion, and then she asked him questions that even the greatest of the wise do not frame with ease. What is karma, and who is it that sets it in motion? Who is the one who wears the body, and what is the body? What are knowledge, intellect, and the vital breath? Which are the senses, and who are their presiding deities? Who is the one who experiences, and what is the thing experienced, and what is release from it? Who is the individual soul, and who is the Supreme Self? All of this, she said, be gracious and tell me.
Dharmaraja answered that whatever the Veda sets forth is dharma, and that alone is the most blessed action; whatever stands against it, outside the Veda, is unfortunate. Service of the divine that is free of any personal will and asks for nothing in return is what uproots karma at the root, and that alone bestows the highest devotion; the one who gives himself to devotion to Brahman becomes free of birth, death, old age, sickness, grief, and fear, and so attains liberation. He explained that karma is a seed that forever bears fruit, and that karma itself is a form of the Supreme Self and of the higher Prakriti; earth, water, fire, wind, and ether, these five great elements, in their subtle thread-like form, go into the making of creation. The embodied soul that performs action is also, as the inner ruler, the one who experiences; the experience of pleasure and pain is what is called enjoyment, and to be freed from it is release. Knowledge is that which draws the line between the real and the unreal, intellect is the power of discernment, the vital breaths are the divisions of the wind within, and the mind, chief among the senses, is a portion of the Lord and the mover of every deed. The eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue, these senses bring to creatures now pleasure and now pain, and the Sun, the Wind, the Earth, Brahma, and the rest are their presiding deities. That which upholds the vital breath and the body is the individual soul, and the all-pervading, attributeless Brahman, beyond Prakriti, is the Supreme Self. Having said all this, Dharmaraja told her, dear child, now return home in peace.
But Savitri folded her hands and said, where am I to go, leaving behind my beloved lord and you, an ocean of knowledge? Then she asked still more: by what deed a soul enters which kind of birth, what wins heaven and what earns hell, which action leads to liberation and which to devotion toward the guru, who becomes diseased and who long-lived, and how many kinds of hell there are. Seeing the depth of these questions, Yama was struck with wonder.
The Boon of Dharmaraja
Dharmaraja laughed and said, dear child, at this moment you are only twelve years old, and yet your knowledge surpasses that of the greatest scholars, sages, and yogis. O daughter, by the boon of the goddess Savitri you were born of her own portion, and you are renowned by the name of the chaste Savitri; through his austerities King Ashwapati received you as a daughter in the very likeness of that Savitri. As Lakshmi graces the lap of Vishnu and Bhavani the breast of Shiva, as Aditi is the fortunate beloved of Kashyapa, Ahalya of Gautama, Shachi of Mahendra, Rohini of Chandra, Rati of Kamadeva, Svaha of Agni, Svadha of the ancestors, and Sandhya of the Sun, so may you too, dear one, shine as the fortunate beloved of Satyavan; this boon I have granted you. Whatever else you desire, ask for that as well.
Savitri said, O greatly fortunate one, may I be given a hundred sons born of Satyavan and of my own body, may my father too have a hundred sons, may my father-in-law’s sight return to him and his kingdom be restored to him as well; and in the end, when a hundred thousand years have passed, may I go with Satyavan to the abode of the Lord Sri Hari, grant me this boon too. And I have a great longing, she added, to hear of the fruits of the deeds of living beings, and of the means by which they are lifted out of this world. Dharmaraja, well pleased, said, O most devoted one, all that your heart desires shall be fulfilled. With these boons the return of Satyavan’s life was settled, for how could the husband of a wife who was to bear a hundred sons by Satyavan, and in the end to reach the abode of Hari at his side, remain dead? Then Yama began to unfold the whole secret of the fruits of beings’ deeds, who goes to which world and how much fruit each gift bestows; and this long discourse ran on well beyond.
This narrative appears in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata as well, yet the Devi Bhagavata’s account has a manner all its own, set against the canvas of Prakriti and the Goddess; here Savitri conquers Yama through her reasoning and her knowledge of the ultimate truth, keeping her tears to herself, and she is herself called a portion of the goddess Savitri.
Source: Shrimad Devi Bhagavata Mahapurana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)