That Day

Savitri laid her husband's aching head in her lap as he chopped wood — and at that very instant, Yama himself appeared, noose in hand

The final day

Some time after sunrise, Savitri thought — "Today is that very day." She completed her morning rites and offered oblations at the sacred fire. Bowing to the elderly Brahmins and her parents-in-law, she stood before them with joined hands, her senses fully gathered. All the ascetics of the hermitage gave Savitri the blessing that she should never suffer widowhood. Savitri accepted that blessing silently, saying "So be it" in her heart, and, remembering Narada's words, waited for that hour.

Her in-laws said, pleased — "You have completed your vow. It is time now for your meal." Savitri said — "I shall eat after the sun sets — this is my heart's own resolve, and my vow."

At this very moment Satyavan set out for the forest, axe upon his shoulder. Savitri said — "Do not go alone. I will come with you. I cannot bear to be parted from you." Satyavan said — "You have never before walked the forest paths, and they are hard to travel. Besides, you are weakened by your fast — how will you manage on foot?" Savitri said — "I feel no weariness from my fast. I have made up my mind to go — do not prevent me." Satyavan said — "If this is your wish, I will grant it. But take my parents' permission first, so that no fault falls on me." Savitri asked her parents-in-law for leave — "Your son goes to the forest to gather fruit. With your permission, I wish to go with him — today I cannot bear to be parted from him." Dyumatsena said — "Since Savitri came to us as a daughter-in-law, I do not recall her ever asking for anything before. Let my daughter-in-law have her wish. But see, daughter, that Satyavan's task is not neglected."

In the forest

With their leave granted, Savitri walked with her husband, smiling outwardly though her heart was torn with grief. Watching the beautiful forest, alive with peacocks, she walked on beside him. Satyavan sweetly pointed out the sacred rivers and the flowering trees, but Savitri watched only her husband in every mood, remembering the sage's words, already holding him in her heart as one already lost.

Satyavan gathered fruit and set to felling branches of wood. As he chopped, he began to sweat, and his head began to ache. Weary with the labour, he came to his beloved wife and said — "Savitri, this hard exercise has given me a headache. My whole body aches. I wish to sleep, for I have no strength left to stand." Savitri came quickly forward, sat down upon the ground, and laid his head upon her lap.

Yama himself

Remembering Narada's words, Savitri began to reckon the hour and the moment. Then she saw — a figure clad in red, his head crowned with a diadem, standing before her. His form was vast and radiant as the sun, his complexion dark, his eyes red, a noose in his hand — dreadful to behold. He stood beside Satyavan, gazing steadily at him.

Seeing him, Savitri gently set her husband's head down upon the ground, and rose, trembling, to ask in distress — "Seeing your superhuman form, I take you for a god. Tell me, chief of the gods, who you are, and what your purpose is here." Yama replied — "Savitri, you are devoted to your husband, and endowed with ascetic merit — it is for this that I speak with you. Know me for Yama. Your lord Satyavan's days have run their course. I shall bind him in this noose and take him away. Know this to be my errand." At these words Savitri said — "I had heard that it is your messengers who come to take away mortals. Why, then, have you come in person?"

Yama answered — "This prince is a sea of virtue and beauty, endowed with every accomplishment. He does not deserve to be taken by my messengers — it is for this that I have come myself." With this, he pulled from Satyavan's body, by force, a person the measure of a thumb, bound in a noose and wholly subdued. The moment this being was taken out, Satyavan's body, deprived of breath, lost its lustre and lay unmoving, unsightly. Binding Satyavan's essence of life, Yama set off toward the south. And Savitri, her heart overwhelmed with grief, devoted to her husband without equal, began to follow him.

Note: This episode is given at length in Ganguli's translation — Yama's description (red garments, diadem, dark complexion, red eyes, noose in hand), his reason for coming himself, and the taking of a person the measure of a thumb, bound in a noose, toward the south, all appear exactly as written in the original. Savitri's following him begins from this very moment. A small textual note: in this direct account Yama comes alone, and Savitri asks why he came in person rather than sending his messengers — later, in Chapter 8, recounting the event to the sages, Savitri herself says Yama came accompanied by his messengers. Both statements are in Ganguli's own translation. The English dialogue lines are flowing paraphrases of the Sanskrit verses, not word-for-word translations.

Source: Mahabharata, Vana Parva — Pativrata-mahatmya Parva, That Day