As to the story of Savitri and Satyavan it is narrated in the Mahabharata as well as Brahmvaivarta Purana as a tale of conjugal love conquering death. But it is evident that this story, like many others of the Vedic cycle, is a profound allegory of man’s quest for God and Truth and Freedom and Immortality. Savitri, as the name itself suggests, is the Ray of Truth, the daughter of the Sun who comes to earth to dispel ignorance and mediate between man’s quest and God. Satyavan, again as the name suggests, is the human soul that carries truth within itself but is lost in the forest of ignorance. Death is the power of darkness, unconsciousness, falsehood that prevents man from discovering his own truth. Savitri is the embodiment of the Divine Mother’s Grace and Love that helps and saves. The essence of the symbol is described in the book as part of Author’s Note as below.
‘The tale of Satyavan and Savitri is recited in the Mahabharata as a story of conjugal love conquering death. But this legend is, as shown by many features of the human tale, one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle. Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance; Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save; Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory. Still this is not a mere allegory, the characters are not personified qualities, but incarnations or emanations of living and conscious Forces with whom we can enter into concrete touch and they take human bodies in order to help man and show him the way from his mortal state to a divine consciousness and immortal life.’
Sri Aurobindo
You will find detailed commentaries and talks on Savitri at auromaa.org which may be helpful.
Please also feel free to ask any specific questions that may arise in the course of your reading.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
