Ashvapati Arranges Savitri's Marriage to Satyavan

King Ashvapati had made up his mind. His daughter Savitri, the radiant princess born through the grace of the goddess Savitri, had chosen her own husband after a long pilgrimage — Satyavan, son of the exiled king Dyumatsena, living as a forest ascetic. Narada himself had warned Ashvapati: Satyavan was perfect in every quality, but he was fated to die exactly one year from the day of his marriage. Ashvapati had told his daughter this. She had not wavered. And so the king prepared to give her away. On an auspicious lunar day, Ashvapati invited brahmanas, officiating priests, and all the priests required for the ceremony. He set out with his daughter and walked into the sacred forest toward Dyumatsena's hermitage. He found the blind king seated under a shala tree on a mat of kusha grass — a rajarshi (royal sage) who had lost his kingdom and his sight but not his dignity. Ashvapati approached on foot, worshipped him as prescribed, and introduced himself with restrained words. Dyumatsena offered him the traditional honors — arghya (water offering), a seat, a cow — and asked why he had come. Ashvapati told him everything: his wishes, his intended course of action, and about Satyavan. "O rajarshi! This is my beautiful daughter, named Savitri. In accordance with your own dharma, accept her as your daughter-in-law." Dyumatsena hesitated. "Dislodged from our kingdom, we have resorted to living in the woods. We are controlled and practise the dharma of ascetics. Your daughter does not deserve a state of living in the forest. How will she be able to bear that hardship?" Ashvapati answered firmly. "Both my daughter and I know that happiness and unhappiness may exist or they may not exist. You should not utter such words to someone like me. I have come here after making up my mind. I have honoured you affectionately as a well-wisher and you should not kill my hopes. Since I have come here out of love, you should not refuse me. In this alliance, you are my equal and I am yours. Therefore, accept my daughter as your daughter-in-law and as Satyavan's wife." Dyumatsena's resistance melted. "Earlier, I had desired to have an alliance with you. But dislodged from my kingdom, I did not think about it again. Let my cherished desire be accomplished today itself. You are a guest that I have wished for." The two kings summoned all the brahmanas living in the hermitage and, in accordance with the rites, arranged for the wedding. Ashvapati gave his daughter away with garments and all appropriate ceremonies, then returned happily to his own house. Satyavan, having obtained a wife who possessed every good quality, was delighted. Savitri was happy too — she had obtained the husband her heart had wanted. When her father departed, she gave up all her ornaments. She donned bark garments and clothes that were red — the dress of a forest ascetic's wife. Through her servitude, qualities, affection, and self-control, she satisfied everyone. She tended to her mother-in-law's body and garments. She satisfied her father-in-law with restrained words and worship of the gods. She satisfied her husband with pleasant words, skilfulness, equanimity, and private attention. Those virtuous ones lived in that hermitage for some time and performed austerities. But whether lying down or standing, during day and at night, in her mind, Savitri kept thinking about the words that Narada had spoken.