Opening Remarks
Aswapati reveals to Narad the mission on which Savitri had been and then turning to Savitri asks her if she has chosen the person in whose search she had travelled far. Savitri reveals her choice before her parents and the sage.
The king speaks to Narad
To whom the king, “The red asoca watched
Her going forth which now sees her return.
In answer to Narad’s query, Aswapati answers that the red asoca trees of the palace saw her go forth and now they see her return.
To find her own lord
Arisen into an air of flaming dawn
Like a bright bird tired of her lonely branch,
To find her own lord, since to her on earth
He came not yet, this sweetness wandered forth
Cleaving her way with the beat of her rapid wings.
Aswapati reveals that w tyhe flaming dawn of her youth she flew into distant lands tired of the lonely branch on which she sat in search for her partner and mate. She had to undertake this journey since the person who has to be her partner in life has not yet come to her. She flew with rapid wings cleaving her way through the skies.
Led by a distant call
Led by a distant call her vague swift flight
Threaded the summer morns and sunlit lands.
Guided by her heart she has travelled far through the summer heat led by the call of her yet unknown partner in the great game of life.
The happy rest
The happy rest her burdened lashes keep
And these charmed guardian lips hold treasured still.
The rest is held within her heart hid behind her eyelids and the lips that guard the treasure she has discovered.
Whom hast thou chosen
Virgin who comest perfected by joy,
Reveal the name thy sudden heart-beats learned.
Whom hast thou chosen, kingliest among men?”
Turning to Savitri, King Aswapati, her human father asked her now to reveal the name of that fortunate leader of men whom her heart as chosen and which is the cause of her joy.
Savitri replied
And Savitri answered with her still calm voice
As one who speaks beneath the eyes of Fate:
“Father and king, I have carried out thy will.
Savitri calmly answers as if in the presence of Fate watching over her that she has indeed carried out the will of her father and king Aswapati to find her partner and mate.
I have obeyed my heart
One whom I sought I found in distant lands;
I have obeyed my heart, I have heard its call.
Obeying the call in her heart she has found the person of her dreams in distant lands.
Thatched hermitage
On the borders of a dreaming wilderness
Mid Shalwa’s giant hills and brooding woods
In his thatched hermitage Dyumatsena dwells,
Blind, exiled, outcast, once a mighty king.
She reveals that she has travelled far into a dreamy space in wilderness among the Shalwa hills and thick woods. There Dyumatsena once a king, now blind, outcast and exiled, dwells in a thatched hermitage.
Satyavan, son of Dyumatsena
The son of Dyumatsena, Satyavan,
I have met on the wild forest’s lonely verge.
My father, I have chosen. This is done.”
She has chosen Satyavan, son of Dyumatsena whom she met on the wild forest verge. She puts a seal of finality with her brevity of speech saying that her choice has been made. It has been done.
Closing Remarks
Savitri has declared her choice to her father.
