Per Mahabharata, the epic Hindu mythology, Savitri was Satyavan’s beautiful, loyal and devoted wife, who was able to revive him after his demise by outwitting Yama (the God of Death). Side note: she was also deemed ‘Sati’, a title conferred to the most chaste of all women. Sati practice (widow burning) on the other hand emerged when the original Sati from another tale sacrificed her life for the love of Shiva, the Hindu God. Sati practice dictates that the widow must immolate herself alive on her husband’s funeral pyre should he die. The husbands do not need to burn themselves if their wives die of course. We abolished that in 1829, so I’m grateful for that! (I’m aware of oversimplifying this- it started as a voluntary tradition for widows, progressing quickly to become a forced practice that did not discount a widow’s wishes, much like every other blast from the past – topic for another day!)
The tale of Sati Savitri persists even today and informs the Indian society at many different levels. Savitri is synonymous with the ideal Indian woman whose duty is to look after her husband, their children, and the husband’s family. She must be docile, chaste, coy, obedient, virtuous, submissive, pious and of course pretty. Women who do not embody these qualities may have questionable characters.
Every year, married women like my mother across many states of India observe a fast for the well-being and long lives of their husbands as a way to commemorate Savitri and Satyavan’s eternal love. There’s a huge demand for Savitris in the Indian arrange marriage markets. A ‘modern’ working Savitri is one who works full-time and takes care of the entire household chores without any participation from her partner. In pop culture, the Savitri-ish Diana Pentys get picked by Saif Ali Khans of Bollywood over the ‘liberated’ Deepika Padukones in blockbusters like Cocktail.
We have also made some progress in recent decade after the wave of feminism and taken it to another extreme. Savitri is not ‘cool’ anymore with the young adults and resonates with the seeds of patriarchy. So, when your friends ask you to drink that glass of scotch next time and you say no, you’re instantly tagged the ‘Sati Savitri’ of the group. The nicknaming also persists when you say no to guys you’re not interested in, prefer dressing modestly/ traditionally, or you’re not the first one to take that swig of cigarette in your group.
So, we’ve managed to come a long way from the aggressive ‘Slut shaming’ to the passive aggressive ‘Savitri shaming’. Pick your demon and while you debate on that, think about men just being men throughout history.
“The feminist agenda… is not about equal rights for women… it is about a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
– Pat Robertson (television evangelist), 1992
This is such a good piece, I find the mythological duscussion super interesting and it’s a really good point at the end about the ‘switch’ from slut shaming to ‘prude shaming’
I’m glad you found it interesting.🖤
It’s always intriguing to look at the origin stories and then compare them with where they stand today!
https://kathegaara.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/savitri/
I wonder why women have to live up to impossible ideals while men who are rakish or caddish are considered ‘attractive’ .
Regarding fasting for the husband, my dad used to say it was an insurance policy foe the next birth and asked my mom not to fast so that he could get a break !
I absolutely love your dad’s take on this!
Unfortunately, most societies across the world have been largely patriarchal, and it’s bound to tip the scales! I am hopeful for future though, as more and more women have started to own their narratives and more and more men are becoming allies!
Thank you for reading Priscilla!🖤
I didn’t know who Savitri was. Interesting post!
An interesting and informative read on the aberrations of the society.
Glad for found this worth your time KK! Thank you for reading.😊
My pleasure 😊
The art/picture looks like a live view to the story of Sati Savithri. Lovely post.
Thank you Suma, appreciate you checking it out!
My pleasure dear. I just went into my child hood reading the post n smiling on some memories of how interesting it was listening to such epic stories.🙂
Apart from the great read the illustration is simply amazing. Just loved the pencil sketch.
Thank you for spending the time Trishikh, much appreciated! 😊
Great post 🙏
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Femist are a disease to our community.
They are convincing lots of women to give up their feminine role and adopt the woke new world agenda.
Get well soon 🙂
Respectfully, the sheer distortion of the story and misinformed opinion of the author is quite bizarre, but not exactly shocking. Misinterpretation of the simplest stories and relating them to some of the most atrocious practices has become a very common habit of the “progressive” crowd. Nobody spearheads an oppressive and arrogant male as the “idealistic man”. But a humble request to the author, please do not mould wholesome and inspiring stories – be it of true love or societal morals – just to give an antagonistic representation of a certain part of the society that is completely unrelated to the original tale.
Appreciate the passionate request, but historical re-telling is neither my forte, area of interest, or the intent of my writing. I leave that to the historians. This post is simply about my pencil sketch and the evolution of the word “Sati Savitri” over the years. l don’t expect every reader to agree with my thoughts or to see the world through my lens. To each their own, respectfully.