Last week I’d promised to cover a Vikram and Betaal story. But since then I’ve had a listener request the Savitri and Satyavan story. Given that Savitri Pooja is on the coming Friday, I thought I would switch things around. Another incentive is that I have a cameo in this story myself!
Today we’ll learn how to cheat death. Yes, you heard that right! It’s a trick that’s been tried mostly unsuccessfully – Harry Potter managed it but that’s about it. Voldemort thought he did but didn’t. Palpatine did and then he didn’t. Everyone in the Final Destination movies thought they did, but they didn’t either.
The answer is surprisingly easy. All you need is to leave the job to your partner.
Our story begins in a palace in a little Kingdom that I often loved to visit. The King was a buddy of mine but truth be told, my main interest was the most excellent chef he employed. Many evenings I’d sit around with my buddy eating Gulab Jamuns and Samosas.
I was practically family. So it was that when the King and Queen had a baby girl, my buddy asked me for an unusual favor. He knew of course that I had complete and absolute knowledge of the past, present, and future.
He wanted to know what lay in store for Savitri, his baby daughter.
I knew he was going to ask of course. And I didn’t tell him.
I brushed him off with some weighty words – great power, great responsibility, etc.
But that didn’t stop me from looking, myself. And what I saw made me feel sorry for this little baby girl who was practically my niece.
Years passed, and Savitri grew up to become an excellent human being and a very just princess.
One day, it was announced that Savitri had chosen for herself a husband. Of course I knew that would happen. And I did what a well-wishing Uncle would have done. I told her what I saw in her future.
Of course I knew in advance she’d chosen a husband. And I knew the person she’d chosen was Satyavan, the son of an ex-King who’d lost his Kingdom and his riches.
I told her straight what else I’d seen. Satyavan was the perfect lad. But he was destined to die, within a year of the marriage. The God of Death, Yama himself would carry him away when the time came.
“Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?” I asked her.
She thanked me for the heads-up. She said we both knew what her answer was going to be so she wasn’t going to bother saying it.
The wedding went on. The chef had excelled himself with the most wonderful desserts for the wedding feast, but to me they did not taste sweet anymore.
After the marriage, Savitri went and stayed in Satyavan’s hut instead of moving him into the palace. She adapted quickly into the role of wife to a blue-collar worker. Satyavan chopped wood in the nearby forest and sold that for their daily bread.
When the appointed date arrived, Savitri accompanied Satyavan into the forest. She kept a close eye on him all the time. Satyavan, who had no knowledge of his approaching demise, was honestly a bit creeped out by his wife’s behavior.
While chopping his very first tree of the day, Satyavan suddenly felt extreme fatigue. He had to lie down for a power nap. Or so he thought. As he lay down, his head resting in his wife’s lap, he breathed his last.
Savitri was prepared for this moment. She didn’t waste her time crying. She had a plan!
As I’d predicted Yama, the God of Death soon appeared on the scene.
Savitri clutched on to Satyavan and wouldn’t let go.
Yama ignored her and brought out his soul extracting kit. Soon, he had captured the essence of Satyavan in a test tube. He’s had experience with billions of people no wonder he did it in a jiffy. Yama packed up his kit, pocketed the test tube, and started walking away. And then stopped. He had the weird sense he was being followed. He used a mirror cleverly and yes! It was Savitri walking right behind him.
“Are you following me?” He asked her
Savitri nodded.
“Why?” asked the God of Death.
“I want my husband back” she said.
“That’s not the way Death works. It’s irreversible you know”
“Not for you” replied Savitri
Yama just shook his head and walked away again
But Savitri continued to follow. For miles!
“Why should I reverse your husband’s death anyway?” he asked her finally.
“Because it would be the right thing to do. You are not just the God of Death. You are among the wisest!”. Yup, flattery will get you everywhere.
“And why would it be wise to restore your husband?”
“Because of the optics of the situation. Look at me, I’m a princess who gave up royal palace life to be with my love. I’ve done nothing wrong my whole life. If a completely blameless person like me becomes a widow at this age, would people not begin to question your wisdom?”
Yama hesitated now. She had a point. This could be bad press for him. Uncomfortable questions at the next press conference, lots of twitter shaming. Maybe they’d un-invite him from the next block party.
“Savitri, I do feel incredibly sorry for you. Satyavan would not have been my first choice.
I can’t restore him to you. But I’ll tell you what – I’ll give you two wishes. Ask for anything you want, just don’t ask for Satyavan back”
“Okay” said Savitri. “I really wish I could have him back. But I suppose this is a reasonable compromise. First I want my father-in-law, the ex-King to be restored to all his former glory – complete with the Kingdom, palace, army”
“Done,” said Yama
“And for my second wish, I wish to go on a long family vacation, with my children”
“Okay” said Yama. “That’s a good idea. A vacation will get your mind off of this tragic event from today. Waaaaaiiiit a minute! You don’t already have any children do you?”
Now smiling, Savitri shook her head.
Yama had realized that for Savitri to have a family vacation, she needed a family first. And that meant, Satyavan had to be alive.
He had been tricked out of a soul. But that might not be a bad thing. He would call his PR agent right away and they’d work on putting a positive spin on this… ahem… “noble” action of his. He imagined the hashtag #GenerousYama trending all over social media again.
He shrugged and handed her the test tube, along with instructions on how to restore Satyavan.
Savitri obviously followed the instructions and Satyavan was back, as if he’d just woken up.
“What, it’s evening already! I haven’t chopped down any wood today!” he said to Savitri. “What are we going to eat tonight?”
“I think we won’t have to worry about that anymore, my prince” said Savitri.
Satyavan looked at her. “Do you know something I don’t?” he asked
“I’ve been with you all day. How can I know anything? Just call it feminine intuition” she said, as the two of them headed in the direction of her father-in-law’s home that was now a palace.
That’s all for now
Notes
Savitri Puja honors Savitri’s actions on the day she rescued her husband. It’s a festival that’s celebrated primarily in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha, and some others. Typically women fast all day just as Savitri is thought to have done, believing that this will help their husbands.
The Character of the Week
Some 5-year-olds become an internet star by trying to drive their parents’ car to another state to buy themselves a Lamborghini. But the 5-year-old in today’s character of the week segment went into the forest on his own and became a literal star. In our night sky!
Dhruva was the son of Uttanapad and Suniti. One day, as he was sitting on his father’s lap as 5-year-olds are sometimes likely to do, he was very rudely displaced by his younger step-brother Uttama.
Dhruva went to discuss this behavior with Uttama’s mother instead of his father who had been right there on the scene! Uttama’s mother, Suruchi, wasn’t inclined to answer her step-son’s question about sibling favoritism. She redirected him…. to God!
Dhruva took this quite literally and set off into the forest to pray to Vishnu.
We’ve seen before many times on this podcast that when people need answers from God they pray for hundreds of years, living on very little. Well, I couldn’t bear to see a 5-year-old go through this. So I intervened. I spoke to the boy, but he was quite determined to go through with his plan. So I did the next best thing. It would normally have taken hundreds of years for an audience with a God, but with some shortcuts I taught him Vishnu made an appearance in only 6 months!
Vishnu was impressed with the boy’s devotion and granted him a wish.
Dhruva wanted nothing more than knowledge to spread Vishnu’s teachings. He didn’t want anything personal for himself – like a Lamborghini or an Xbox. And just for that he received an extra honor. The whole world may change in a cataclysm, the stars and planets in the sky might continue to move, but as the pole star – Dhruva would be a constant
That’s all for this week.
Next Week
Next week we’re back with Vikram and Betaal. We’ll see why, when you are the King, you should be careful whom you delegate a task to. They might do exactly the opposite of what you intend.
The character next week has a lasso, just like Wonder Woman’s, but this one is made of snakes! And his ride is a Crocodile fish! All the association with aquatic creatures make sense since he is after all the God of the Sea!
I’ll see you next week!