Savitri Mabasya, “the Sada Suhagan Festival of Hindu girls and women” is fast approaching. The mythological significance of the festival dates back to the legendary saga of Savitri and Satyaban of the days of yore.
Whether it is a story or a fact is immaterial to me, but the lasting and living impression it has on a very large section of Hindus can hardly be over-emphasised. I believe that it has its definite root, otherwise the fruit of faith would have been unthinkable. That the practice of observing the festival with its annexed austerity by the Hindu girls and women from time immemorial is based upon facts of the incident described in “Savitri Puran”.
Satyaban as described in the epic verse was gifted with a short life-span, well known to Savitri who had intense love for him which culminated in their magnetic marriage. How she chased Lord Jamaraj, the God of Death and Retribution and won back her husband with her sharp intellect and resolute will executed with onerous dedication and faithfulness is an oft-quoted achievement unparalleled in the history of Hindu women annals.
All girls and women including children of the sex of the Sevak Brahmin families of Lord Jagannath of Puri observe this festival with much austerity and religious fervour every year, fasting althrough the day. All available varieties of fruits in the locality are prchased and offered to Goddess Savitri and are only eaten in the evening and without anything else intake till the ensuing dawn.Savitri Amabashya is the revelation of Hindu cultural intensity and wife-husband perennial bond which many others are found emulating.
