SATYAVAN RESTORED
(A dramatic poem)
Nirmaldasan
CHORUS
Is that Yama? Has then the breath
Of Satyavan fled? Once a prince
He was… then by subtle fate brought
Low to the state of woodcutter,
Ere he wedded her — that lady, 5
Whose lap now props her beloved's head.
She weeps? Wherefore sheds she these tears?
She has no cause for tears, for she
'Twas who with steadfast mind him chose,
Though by sage Narada forewarned 10
That the span of life to him lent
Would last but a year. She removes
His head from her lap to the earth;
She rises; she follows Yama!
Is the God of Death visible 15
To mortal eyes?— He stops: he turns…
YAMA
Am I no more invisible?
Perhaps it is thy chastity,
O Savitri, that has infused
Light divine into thy sad eyes. 20
Cease to follow me: stay thy steps!
Thine intent, not unknown to me,
Though noble, yet 'tis vain; for thou
Seekest of me what is opposed
To the functions of mine office. 25
Stay, Savitri: cease to follow.
CHORUS
Yet she follows. To what purpose?
Little can she hope to invoke
Pity in his breast, or persuade
Him, her husband's soul to release. 30
Still she follows: her steps, though bent
Thither, needs must to the dark woods
Return, for no mortal can pass
Through the gates of his dark abode.
When she returns, with loss of hope, 35
Will she stoop to lose her virtues
By embracing her husband's pyre?
Nay! Such a sin, even the thought,
Can never rise in virtuous breasts.
YAMA
Still thou followest.— How to soothe 40
Her troubled mind? In what manner
Reason; convince that she in vain,
In vain seeks to retrieve his soul?—
CHORUS
Does Silence in her being dwell?
Or, is her heart in pray'rs engaged? 45
Whence came the strength for her to bear
The knowledge of his death augured?
Prayers it must have been that lent
Smiles, her sad countenance to veil,
When she was in his sweet presence.— 50
YAMA
Will thou follow still, and him leave
As food for birds and beasts? Return.
Retrace thy steps; there is for thee
A solace in this thought that for him
A place is in heaven prepared. 55
To his side, O lady, return!
SAVITRI
What solace, Lord, can that thought bring?
Were death earlier to ensue,
Or at some later date, still he
In paradise would find a place. 60
Unto us a year was given,
A year of matrimonial bliss,
Yet shadowed by the augury,
Had which not been to me revealed,
Then like him unknown of the dark 65
Haply might I had me content.
YAMA
These, thy words, can move me never
To return to thee thy husband,
Nor to grant thee a boon — which I,
Seeing thy widowed state, thus moved, 70
Now grant. Ask me what thine heart wills,
But not the soul of Satyavan.
SAVITRI
Light restore to his father's eyes,
Though to him little recompense
When he finds his belov'd son dead. 75
YAMA
So be it. Thou shall have thy will.
But wherefore dost thou wish to fill
His eyes with light, when thou knowest
He never can use them to see
His belov'd son? I shall restore 80
His eyes and eke his kingdom lost.
So be thou content, and return.
CHORUS
Still she follows. Will she contend
With Fate? Or, does she still follow
With hopes vain, his soul to retrieve, 85
Or obtain another boon?
YAMA
No recompense need heaven pay
For his soul which no more is his.
Yet I to thee a boon did grant.
Be satisfied: cease to follow. 90
Will thou not heed to what I say?
Thou will not: thine exceeding love
For him maketh thee to follow,
Which now finds favour in my breast.
Ah! Ask of me another boon. 95
SAVITRI
To my father be born a son,
Who shall be a joy unto him
And heir-apparent to his throne,
That when he dies, he so might die —
With a mind filled with joy untold — 100
Not sorrowed at my state of woe.
YAMA
A just will is thine, Savitri:
Thou shall have thy will. Be content.—
Now shall I to mine abode haste,
Lest she still follow for his soul: 105
But ah! there in me still remains
Pity, for my boons both she used
Not to gain aught for her own self.
I shall not haste but slowly tread
That when she follows I may grant 110
A third boon for her own self's sake.—
CHORUS
She smiles! Arise, Melancholy,
Lie no more couchant in her eyes,
It is time for thee to depart.
Go! Search for thee another home. 115
But oh! those Smiles are fled. Whither?
Wherefore came they if but to grace
Awhile her lips and not to stay?
YAMA
If aught there be to repair
The loss of thy belov'd husband, 120
Save he being restored to thee,
One last boon shall thou have of me.
Speak not: betake thee a moment,
And think ere thou ask what thou will.
CHORUS
Save the will to retrieve his soul 125
What else can in her sorrow'd heart
Subsist? She thinks…
SAVITRI
A hundred sons.
To me be born a hundred sons.
YAMA
So be it.— Ah! content she seems
And follows not. Yet let me haste 130
Ere she thinks she can me persuade
To restore to her her husband.
But still she stays!—
CHORUS
Is mortal love
Pliable and subject to change?
How soon has she her love removed 135
From him to her yet unborn sons!
Sons? But ah! How can she beget
If he be not to her restored?
YAMA
Oh! How she has me deceived!
Or is it the will of heaven 140
That Satyavan should be restored?—
O Savitri, I grant thee him —
Thy will — though not of own accord,
But to make my last boon come true,
Or haply 'tis the unknown will 145
Of heaven. Go, thou hast thy Love!
CHORUS
Ah, happy she! Her shall we bear
Unseen to where he breathing lies…
YAMA
Blest be she! Blest be he! Now I
Shall bear me to my dark abode. 150
CHORUS
There, there shall we her gently lay,
There where he lies in sleep profound.
She smiles at his countenance calm,
And Melancholy for ever
Is banished from her self. He wakes; 155
He rises. What to him befell —
Does he know? He to her his hand
Extends. And each with each they hold
Converse. From here shall we withdraw,
And not their converse overhear, 160
Meant for each other's ears alone.
His hand enclosed in hers they go,—
Ah! happy she and happy he!
Be so ever as now thou be.
NOTE: Satyavan Restored was composed between January 21 and February 8 of 1988. This dramatic poem was composed as a concrete and earthy answer to Sri Aurobindo's abstract and philosophical Savitri. In fact my first essay titled ‘Aurobindo's Savitri’ was written between January 3 and 5 of 1988. I am here reproducing that essay though it is a juvenile piece:
The poem 'Savitri' has its source in the Mahabharata; where it is recited, as Aurobindo says in his preface to the poem, as a story of conjugal love conquering death. Aurobindo found in the story an ideal subject for an epic where his philosophy could find expression. He set about to write, and the result was this long poem of about twenty four thousand lines.
It shall not be my endeavour to judge 'Savitri' as a philosophical work, in which Aurobindo, at least in the eyes of his disciples, met with success; but to delineate whether 'Savitri' as a poem achieved its objectives or not. One would not contend with me if I say that the objectives of a true poem are to give pleasure and, at the same time, not to betray the feelings of the poet. It would be wrong on my part to adduce whether Aurobindo, in writing 'Savitri', was true to his feelings or not without being acquainted with a knowledge of his life. I little knew that he was a poet, when on a department trip some of my department mates and I visited his ashram at Pondicherry. However, it is my belief that no person can write twenty four thousand lines of verse without being true to one's feelings. Therefore I shall say, without the least hesitation, that he was true to his feelings.
The legend of Savitri, as found in the Mahabharata is an excellent story in which Savitri outwits the God of Death and retrieves the soul of Satyavan. But Aurobindo was not satisfied with the manner by which Savitri outwits the God of Death. This would be of no little surprise to the reader, for to be not satisfied with so witty a speech by which Savitri outwits Yama would surprise even the illiterate. I was surprised and dissatisfied with the attitude that the poet had taken to his subject. He changed the whole dialogue and marred the beauty of the original tale. Perhaps the poet himself was aware of this, but had no other alternative to achieve his ends.
All poets are at liberty to choose their themes from ancient literature and to alter them to suit their purposes and likes. But the result of the alteration will not be a success unless the alteration is found to better the original theme. In this respect, as aforesaid, the author of 'Savitri' marred the beauty of the original tale. And where there is no beauty, there can be no pleasure. I am not saying that 'Savitri' is void of pleasure but that there are not many passages which can sustain the interest of the reader.
Having said what I had to say on this aspect, I shall say something on the poetic diction of Aurobindo. What I apprehend from the style of 'Savitri' is that the poet had no ear for music and hence was unable to choose the appropriate words from the vast vocabulary he must have had, being an erudite. Besides, the poem is monotonous; and the design of the poem is not that which can please the reader. Hence to read 'Savitri' would be an endeavour rather than a pleasure.
I do not wish my verdict to be taken as that of a critic, for I am no critic but only a dissatisfied reader of 'Savitri', who believes that posterity will not consider 'Savitri' as a poem but only as a didactic work in the guise of a poem.
