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पतिव्रतामाहात्म्यपर्वन् (pativratAmAhAtmyaparvan)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Pativratāmāhātmyaparvan]
(“the section about the greatness of the faithful wife”) (cf. Pativratāyā māhātmyaṃ Sāvitryāḥ). § 545: Asked by Yudhishṭhira, Mārkaṇḍeya related, on account of Kṛshṇā: The Madra king Aśvapati, the husband of Mālavī, was old and childless. After eighteen years of vows and offerings to Sāvitrī, Sāvitrī granted him a boon
he asked for many sons, but was promised a daughter. She was called Sāvitrī. As nobody asked her in marriage, she was sent to look for a husband herself (III, 293). She chose Satyavat, the son of the Śālva king Dyumatsena (the husband of Śaibyā), who had been blinded and deprived of his kingdom and lived as an ascetic in the forest. Satyavat equalled Rantideva Sāṅkrti, Śibi Auśīnara, Yayāti, etc., but Nārada said: “Within a year of this day he will die”
then Nārada went to heaven (III, 294). After her marriage Sāvitrī dressed in bark garments, etc. (III, 295). She counted the days, and having ascertained that her husband would die on the fourth day following, she observed a trirātra vow
on the fourth day all the ascetics uttered benedictions that she should never suffer widowhood
she would not eat before the sun set. She followed Satyavat as he, taking his axe, set out for the woods (III, 296). He fell ill and slept with his head on her lap. Yama himself--and not his emissary--came with a noose in his hand and pulled out of the body of Satyavat a person of the size of a thumb, bound it in the noose and proceeded in a southern direction. Sāvitrī followed him and was granted five boons: (1) that her father-in-law should attain his eyesight and be strong
(2) that her father-in-law should regain his kingdom and never fall off from his duties
(3) that her father should have 100 sons
(4) that she and Satyavat should have 100 sons “begotten from both of us”
(5) that Satyavat should be restored to life and live 400 years. Yama untied the noose
she went back to the corpse and placed his head on her lap. Satyavat regained his consciousness. He was anxious about his parents, and they returned to the hermitage (III, 297). Meanwhile Dyumatsena had regained his sight, but was anxious at not finding Satyavat. He was comforted by the brahmans Suvarcas, Gautama, Bharadvāja, Dālbhya, Apastamba, and Dhaumya. A little while afterwards Satyavat and Sāvitrī reached the hermitage. Sāvitrī narrated everything that had happened and was praised by the ṛshis (III, 298). Meanwhile the enemy of Dyumatsena had been slain by his minister, and Dyumatsena then again became king of the Śālvas. Sāvitrī after a long time gave birth to 100 sons, and her father also got 100 sons by Mālavī. “So also Kṛshṇā will rescue ye all.” Yudhishṭhira and his brothers continued to live in the Kāmyaka forest (III, 299).