Jonathan Ivan Oro
AB – Political Science

Savitri’s Love

The love story from the ‘Mahabharata’, features Devika Rani as the heroine born through divine benediction to Ashwapati, and Ashok Kumar as Satyavan, son of an exiled and blinded hermit. Although Satyavan is scheduled to die soon, Savitri marries him and eventually propitiates Yama, the god of death, to return Satyavan’s life and to restore her father-in-law’s sight.
Yama can be taken to be symbolic of a serious life-threatening disease and the wish for the birth of a son signifies optimism. Savitri’s entreaty represents the medical treatment coupled with her genuine devotion, conscientious care and dedicated service that resulted in the full recovery of Satyavan. The gestures and actions of Savitri served as pseudo-karmas in modifying the fruition of Satyavan’s karmas.

Another Hindu legend tells the story of a princess named Savitri. She fell in love with Prince Satyavan, the son of a blind, exiled king. Although a holy man told Savitri that the prince would die within a year, she married him anyway. After a year, Satyavan went into the forest to cut wood, followed by his wife. There they met Yama, the god of death, who began to take the prince away. Touched by Savitri’s devotion to her husband, Yama told her that he would grant her anything she wished. First she asked that Satyavan’s father recover his sight and his kingdom. Then she asked that she might become the mother of 1,000 children. After Yama agreed, Savitri argued that she could not have children if her husband was dead. Impressed by the way Savitri had tricked him, Yama restored Satyavan to