Opening Remarks for the Canto Two

In this Canto we are being introduced to the protagonist of the epic, Satyavan. Though he remains largely in the background, yet is he the Lord around whom the entire epic revolves. Savitri as the embodied Divine Mother is the main lead in the epic without whom the epic collapses or ends in a failure and a tragedy. It is her touch, her wisdom, her power, her love that redeems matter and releases her lover and beloved from the clutches of Death. Yet all her effort revolves around Satyavan. She has chosen him as her husband and lord, as her partner in the great game of life.  Though she came down consenting to the prayer of Aswapati, yet her mission is to rescue Satyavan from the grip of Ignorance and Death.

Who then is Satyavan. We have been already told that he is the soul of man that always carries the truth within itself and yet has fallen into the darkness of ignorance. Savitri has come to save him from this state and open the pathways of immortality for him. This is true in general and all of us in a certain sense are Satyavans who seek redemption by Her Grace. In the description of Satyavan we see the ideal prototype of humanity that is ready to escape the dark net and the law of Death.

But the story has at once a cosmic as well as a personal angle. It is at once a symbol as well as a reality.  Satyavan is also an embodied being here upon earth who has come to help Savitri’s mission. He has chosen to pass through the gates of Death and bear the burden of ignorance as a representative of humanity. In this sense, Satyavan is none else the Lord Himself who has assumed the cloak of Ignorance to play or rather work out the divine Lila along with Savitri.

It is thus that he is being introduced now in the epic at this beautiful juncture when the two, Savitri and Satyavan are meeting. Like Nara and Narayana, they are inseparable companions, partners and mates who come down in different bodies to open the path and show the way.