Satyavan Revived and the Return to the Hermitage

When Yama had left, having obtained her husband back, Savitri returned to the spot where Satyavan's corpse was lying. She approached him and embraced him. She sat down on the ground and raised his head onto her lap. Satyavan regained consciousness. He looked at her repeatedly with great love, as if having returned from a journey. "I have slept for a long time," he said. "Why did you not wake me up? Where is the dark-complexioned man who was dragging me away?" "You have indeed slept for a long time on my lap," Savitri replied. "The illustrious god Yama, the controller of all beings, has departed. You are rested and have awoken from sleep. If you can, arise. Look. The night is now deep." Satyavan arose, as if from pleasant slumber. He glanced at the woods in all directions. "I set out with you to gather fruits as food. Then, as I was chopping wood, I suffered from a headache. Tormented by the pain, I could no longer stand up and lay down on your lap and slept. I remember all this. In your embrace, sleep overcame my mind. I then saw a terrible and dark being, with great energy. Was that a dream? Or was it reality?" Savitri told him she would explain everything tomorrow. The night was deepening. The sun had gone down. The ones who wander in the night were roaming around with harsh voices. Jackals were howling from the south-west direction, making her heart tremble. But Satyavan would not be delayed. "My headache has gone," he said. "I wish to go and see my mother and my father. Earlier, I have never returned to the hermitage at the wrong time. My mother restricts me even before evening has set in. My elders are anxious even when I go out during the day. Thinking about me, I wonder about the state they will be in now." He told her what his parents had said to him once, in a flood of tears: "O son, without you we cannot be alive for an instant. You are the crutch for these aged and blind ones. Our lineage is based in you. Our funeral oblations, our fame and our offspring are established in you." "My mother is old. My father is old. I am their crutch. What state will they be reduced to if they do not see me tonight? I blame that sleep. I have no interest in living without my mother and my father." He raised his arms in grief and began to lament loudly. Savitri wiped the tears from his eyes. "If I have observed austerities, if I have offered oblations, this night will be safe for my mother-in-law, my father-in-law and my husband. I do not remember having spoken a falsehood, even in jest. By virtue of that truth, let my parents-in-law remain alive today." Satyavan insisted: let us start, without any delay. Savitri arose and tidied her hair. She grasped her husband by the arms and made him arise. She hung the vessel from the branch of a tree, grasped the axe, and returned to him. She placed his left hand on her shoulder and, embracing him with her right arm, began to walk. Satyavan guided her. He knew the paths. The moonlight shone between the trees. He was well, he was strong, and he wished to see his parents. They set out quickly towards the hermitage.