The Winds of Wonder

Savitri — A Legend and a Symbol

Savitri — A Legend and a Symbol

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RY Deshpande

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Savitri — A Legend and a Symbol

[Here is the illuminating declaration of Sri Aurobindo regarding Savitri which he calls a legend and a symbol. But both are, not algebraic signs and notations, not even metaphors; they are dynamic and revelatory.]

All forms are tokens of some veiled idea

Whose covert purpose lurks from mind’s pursuit,

Yet is a womb of sovereign consequence. ||50.71||

There every thought and feeling is an act,

And every act a symbol and a sign,

And every symbol hides a living power. ||50.72||

Nirodbaran once asked Sri Aurobindo: “Has your own epic Savitri anything to do with the Mahabharata story?”

Sri Aurobindo replied: “Not really. Only the clue is taken from the Mahabharata. My story is symbolic. I believe that originally the Mahabharata story was also symbolic but it has been made more into a tale of conjugal fidelity.”

Nirodbaran: “What is your symbolism?”

Sri Aurobindo: “Well, Satyavan whom Savitri marries is the symbol of the Soul descended into the Kingdom of Death, and Savitri, who is, as you know, the Goddess of Divine Light and Knowledge, comes down to redeem Satyavan from Death’s grasp. Aswapathy, the father of Savitri is the Lord of Energy. Dyumatsena is “one who has the shining hosts”. It is all inner movement, nothing much as regards outward action. The poem opens with the Dawn. Savitri awakes on the day of destiny, the day when Satyavan has to die. The birth of Savitri is a boon of the Supreme Goddess given to Aswapathy. Aswapathy is the yogi who seeks the means to deliver the world out of Ignorance…”

https://savitri.in/books/huta-d-hindocha/my-savitri-work-with-the-mother

The tale of Satyavan and Savitri is recited in the Mahabharata as a story of conjugal love conquering death. But this legend is, as shown by many features of the human tale, one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle. Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance; Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save; Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory. Still this is not a mere allegory, the characters are not personified qualities, but incarnations or emanations of living and conscious Forces with whom we can enter into concrete touch and they take human bodies in order to help man and show him the way from his mortal state to a divine consciousness and immortal life.

https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-tale-of-satyavan-and-savitri

7 responses to “Savitri — A Legend and a Symbol”

  1. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Sri Aurobindo says that the tale of Satyavan and Savitri is of Vedic origin. He writes:

    Whence then comes this falsehood, sin, death, suffering of our mortal existence? We are told that there are eight sons of the cosmic Aditi who are born from her body; by seven she moves to the gods, but the eighth son is Martanda, of the mortal creation, whom she casts away from her; with the seven she moves to the supreme life, the original age of the gods, but Martanda is brought back out of the Inconscient into which he had been cast to preside over mortal birth and death.

    This Martanda or eighth Surya is the black or dark, the lost, the hidden sun. The Titans have taken and concealed him in their cavern of darkness and thence he must be released into splendour and freedom by the gods and seers through the power of the sacrifice. In less figurative language the mortal life is governed by an oppressed, a hidden, a disguised Truth; just as Agni the divine seer-will works at first upon earth concealed or obscured by the smoke of human passion and self-will, so Surya the divine Knowledge lies concealed and unattainable in the night and darkness, is enveloped and contained in the ignorance and error of the ordinary human existence. The Seers by the power of truth in their thoughts discover this Sun lying in the darkness, they liberate this knowledge, this power of undivided and all-embracing vision, this eye of the gods concealed in our subconscient being; they release his radiances, they create the divine Dawn. Indra the divine Mind-power, Agni the Seer-Will, Brihaspati the Master of the inspired word, Soma the immortal Delight born in man aid them to shatter the strong places of the mountain, the artificial obstructions of the Titans are broken and this Sun soars up radiant into our heavens. Arisen he mounts to the supramental Truth. “He goes where the gods have made a path for him cleaving like an eagle to his goal”; he ascends with his seven shining horses to the utter luminous ocean of the higher existence; he is led over it by the seers as in a ship. Surya, the Sun, is himself perhaps the golden ship in which Pushan the Increaser leads men beyond evil and darkness and sin to the Truth and the Immortality.

    https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/15/the-guardians-of-the-light

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  2. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Here are the verses from the Rig Veda X:72:8-9

    अ॒ष्टौ पु॒त्रासो॒ अदि॑ते॒र्ये जा॒तास्त॒न्व१॒॑स्परि॑ ।

    दे॒वाँ उप॒ प्रैत्स॒प्तभिः॒ परा॑ मार्ता॒ण्डमा॑स्यत् ॥ १०.०७२.०८

    स॒प्तभिः॑ पु॒त्रैरदि॑ति॒रुप॒ प्रैत्पू॒र्व्यं यु॒गम् ।

    प्र॒जायै॑ मृ॒त्यवे॑ त्व॒त्पुन॑र्मार्ता॒ण्डमाभ॑रत् ॥ १०.०७२.०९

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  3. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Wikipedia:

    Book 10, Hymn 72 of the Rigveda has the following verses:

    Eight are the Sons of Aditi who from her body sprang to life.

    With seven she went to meet the Gods she cast Martanda far away.

    So with her Seven Sons Aditi went forth to meet the earlier age. She brought

    Martanda thitherward to spring to life and die again.

    Mârtânda is etymologically derived from mârta, meaning “dead or undeveloped” (a word connected with mrita, the past participle of mri, “to die”) and ânda, “an egg or a bird”. The name denotes a dead sun, or a sun that has sunk below the horizon.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81rtanda

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  4. Chandrashekhar Avatar
    Chandrashekhar

    Great guidance 🙏 👏

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  5. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    There is the ancient Indian tradition to bless a young wife to be the mother of eight sons: “May you remain married without widowhood and be the mother of eight sons, ashtaputra saubhagyavati bhava, अष्टपुत्र सौभाग्यवती भव”. Perhaps there is a connection with the Reg Veda’s eight sons of Aditi, the eight Adityās, अ॒ष्टौ पु॒त्रासो॒ अदि॑ते॒र्ये जा॒तास्त॒न्व१॒॑स्परि॑ ।

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    1. supriyafdce46d60a8ae Avatar
      supriyafdce46d60a8ae

      I had always wondered about why this ashtaputravati bhav blessing. is it an auspicious number or with every conception a better child is produced, or did it have something to do with high child mortality. It is quite possible at least in ancient times to think of such stories from Reg Veda and bless married woman to have at least eight children. They may be refereeing to Mahabharat times too, since Bhagawan Krushna was eighth born.

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      1. RY Deshpande Avatar
        RY Deshpande

        Perfect, but let me also add the following:

        There is something extraordinary the Rig Veda speaking of eight sons of Aditi, though with no further elaboration, perhaps that which was immediately understood by the contemporary Rishis and their disciples; they were not writing modern PhD theses. The depth of metaphysics is profound and intuitively rich. There is a spiritual reality which is lofty and noble and grand, very āryaṇa. It is that aspect one may see in the benediction अष्टपुत्र सौभाग्यवती भव, be the propitious mother of eight sons, it entering into the social formulation. As cosmic powers of manifestation we may mention the names of eight sons of Aditi, though the Rig Veda does not explicitly list them out. These eight sons, eight Ādityas, are: Mitra, Āryaman, Bhaga, Varuṇa, Indra, Savitṛ, Dhātri and the eighth Mārtāṇda.

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