Invocation 08 - Auroville

The Legend of Savitri: a mythic
background
Talk by Professor Manoj Das
at Savitri Bhavan on March 12, 2000
In his Author's Note to Savitri Sri Aurobindo mentions that the tale of
Satyavan and Savitri is "one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic
cycle." Professor Manoj Das is uniquely qualified to speak on the
mythic background to the Savitri story, and its connection to other myths
belonging to the same cycle.
When it was suggested to me that I should speak on Savitri here, I knew
very well that several profound talks had already been given, based on one
aspect of the great epic or another. Some friends may be interested in the
mythical background of the very theme of Savitri, I thought. When I say the
theme of Savitri, I mean the theme of a mystic approach to death and its
possible conquest. As you all know, in Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine, in
the first chapter, it has been clearly stated that there are five original timedefying
aspirations which mankind has tried to realise since the dawn of
human consciousness. Practically all human activities can be grouped under
these five pristine goals of conscious life, which are: God, Light, Freedom,
Bliss and Immortality. For each of these lines of development, these lines of
quest, we can find sufficient matter in India's mystic heritage to construct
almost sagas of human endeavour and adventure.Today I will confine myself
to the last of these five aspirations of humanity: the quest for immortality.
When we start to speak of myths, at once we are reminded of the fact
that myths are often the victims of popular misunderstanding and wrong
understanding. What is a myth? I will very briefly touch on the nature of
myth, to the extent that it is relevant to the subject today, otherwise that
becomes a very long and very profound topic in itself. Very briefly speaking
there are two kinds of myth. The first represents a sudden revelation, the
sudden spiritual realisation of a mystic, which he puts into a form; the form
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