Since the age of nine, Savitri had started questioning almost everything she observed in the society that she lived in. She did not understand the significance of the patriarchal culture that was predominant in her village. She could not comprehend why women were looked down upon by men and why the birth of a daughter was bemoaned, as if; it was not a birth, but a death.
Whenever she asked these questions to her mother, she always got the same answer: ‘God has made men superior to women.’
But when Savitri started taking interest in the discourses of their village priest at the temple, she could not find the truth in her mother’s answers.
Instead, her conscience got enlightened with the knowledge of God and she realized that the actions of people were not compatible with the good deeds, which, God expected them to do. This liberated her mind as well as made her restless.
Savitri’s childhood and her questions
Savitri had three elder brothers: Raghu, Kamal and Ganesh. The only sister she had was married off and they had never met again.
She was subjected to constant scolding by her brothers and father. Their conduct disgusted her, but her mother’s silence tortured her even more. She had no one with who she could share her feelings.
It was at the bank of the Godavari River where she found the peace and solitude that she desired for. Whenever sorrow overtook her heart, her tears led her to her cherished companion, Godavari. One day she shared her plight with her only friend.
‘Oh! They make me toil so hard in the fields but no matter how hard I labour to please them, Raghu and Kamal always reproach me over everything and Ganesh insults me every day. And now they have announced that I am a Sinful child, an evil! How can I love such people? How can I have affection for my father when he blames my mother for my birth and hurls abuses at her? How can I resist hating Raghu when he always declares that he wants me dead? Oh, Godavari! I hate them all,’ she wept, holding her face in her hands.
Savitri had turned fourteen. After the season’s harvest, her family planned to marry her off as soon as possible. Her growing mutiny towards them had infuriated them.
There was only one man towards whom Savitri was never critical. It was the Priest of the temple. He was a respectful old man whose demeanour was gentle and kind. She learned that he was very polite to his wife. It made her desire a husband of similar qualities.
However, her mother told her that all Priests were Brahmins and she could not marry a Brahmin because she was a Kshatriya. Only a Brahmin could marry a Brahmin.
‘Who is called a Brahmin?’ she asked her mother.
‘Someone who is closest to God,’ her mother replied.
Since that time, she always prayed to God more vigorously. The stories of the Vedic period fascinated her. She loved the story of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
One day, while doing the household chores she found her brother arguing with his father over how much dowry they needed to arrange for her marriage.
Hearing that, she interrupted to solve their problems and said, ‘The Vedas say that the education and intellectual knowledge is the dowry that a parent should give to a child’.
Instead of being appreciated, she was condemned for interfering. As her brothers had demanded dowry too from their wives, they did not speak against the custom. Savitri understood that day what she had never been aware of before.
She realized that nothing she did would make her equal to them unless she went back to her mother’s womb and returned as a boy.
The season of selling the harvest arrived. While her brothers and father were busy in the open market working with the traders of Korangam city, she found some solace in her beloved place.
She contemplated for a long time and then spoke aloud to the Godavari River.
‘Godavari, you are a symbol of a strong woman; pure in its original form but polluted by mankind.
We, women, are like you; like water. Men are like plants. We cannot say that plants are more
important than water, or water is more important than plants. Both are equally important.
Like many other things, men and women are co-dependent beings. They have an equal position. And hence, I shall not listen to anyone who tells me otherwise. I shall not believe the words of those sordid men. I shall trust my conscience, and may God guide me!’
This resolution brought some peace to her mind. Though she was appalled by the crude customs and morals of most of the men, she still hoped that her marriage would change the pitiable condition of her life. With this hope, she made an earnest prayer to God, in the presence of the Godavari river.
‘O, God! Let me spend my life with a man who has the noble characteristics that your avatars possess: the gentle nature of Rama, the wisdom of Krishna, and the kindness of Vishnu.”
The rebellion of Savitri
After a few days, Savitri believed that her prayers had been answered. She came across a man named Nandan. The little boys of the village had injured a dog to the point of death.
She found Nandan tending to this dying dog. She observed him on many more occasions and concluded that this was the man God had sent for her.
Finally, the day came when she was informed that they had arranged her marriage to the son of a trader who had come from the town of Korangam. She was horrified to learn that they were planning to send her to the town where she knew no one.
In the village, she could, at least, visit the Godavari and learn more from the discourses at the temple. Mustering some courage, she told them that she wanted to marry the village boy, Nandan.
When she informed her family, they were taken aback. It was her mother who spoke this time.
‘He is a Shudra! How can you even think of marrying in the low caste!’ her mother criticized.
‘He is a Brahmin!’ Savitri replied, sternly.
‘A person is Brahmin only by birth.’ Kamal proclaimed, ‘And who gave you the right to choose your own husband?’
‘Who gave me the right? God gave it to me. Don’t you know that Sita and Draupadi chose their husbands in Swayamvar? If they chose their husbands then why can’t I?’ she demanded.
‘They chose someone of pure blood; they were Brahmins. Who do you choose? An untouchable? That is exactly why you do not have a right to choose because you do not have the wisdom to choose!’ her father scoffed.
‘If Brahmin is someone who is closest to God and his blood is pure, then Nandan is a Brahmin because no one is close to God unless they realize the pain of others, and no blood is pure unless it flows with love for the creations. In that sense you all are Shudra, and not him!’ she mocked.
Rage overtook Raghu as he thrashed Savitri across the face and retorted furiously, ‘You are the worst of all creatures on earth. The supplier of all misfortunes. I want to strangle your neck and kill you right now!’
Fear and disgust crept in her blood and she ran to her mother with tears flowing down her eyes.
‘Mother, please! I beg you to send him away. Order him to leave this house. You have the power to exile him. He should be exiled! Rama was sent away even without any fault. Your son is at fault and you must do justice mother’ she cried.
Her mother, shocked as she was, remained quiet. Her father spoke in fury.
‘How dare you utter such nonsense in my house? You are the sinner who must leave this house.’
‘I am not evil father, but your son is. Can’t you see how he treats me? And how does he treat his wife? Lord Ram went to battle against a great army of Raavana just for his beloved wife Sita”
‘She was not rebellious and restless as you are’, her father retorted.
“Oh father, you think it is my fault? Dhritarashtra was blind but still wise. You, however, can see but you are still blind.’
She cried for the whole night over the degradation she had endured.
Savitri’s defeat
With the departure of the traders, even she was sent away in marriage. Her heart had given up all hope when she entered her new household. She had to labour every day and was abused as a slave.
Her husband was a greater torment than her father and brothers. The most appalling
An example of this was the death of her firstborn child; a daughter.
She was shocked when her husband forcefully killed their little daughter. Her heart went numb and she lost her trust in God. Then, like every other woman, even she wished for a son.
At the age of sixteen, Savitri had her first son. She was delighted because now she could experience
her motherhood. She nurtured him, protected him, fed him and loved him, and the moment she
would leave him, he would cry for her company.
She knew that the children who cannot survive without a woman when they are little, grow up and slander her very presence around them.
But Savitri did not want such children. She wanted righteous children and she was determined to make her children so.
When her son was only a year and a half old, Savitri gave birth to a daughter. Once again, her husband wanted to kill the girl but this time Savitri was ready to fight for justice.
Savitri’s fight for justice
‘Don’t you understand the sufferings the birth of a woman brings in the household? You must obey
me. I am your God and you should serve me.’ He announced.
‘No!’ she groaned loudly, ‘You are no God, and you know nothing about God. There is nothing Godly in you and hence I must not serve you. Don’t you know what brings misfortune to a household? It is the way its woman is treated; the suffering of a woman’s heart brings all the misfortune.
And who is responsible for it? You men, you, who are far from God, in fact Anti-God! And if today my daughter dies, I will kill your son as well! And I will curse you, that may God destroy your household, may you suffer as I do, oh you oppressor of a creation of God! Kill me too, if you dare. But I will not obey you today.’
This shocked her husband. Believing her to have gone crazy and fearing her curse, he let the girl live. Savitri named her daughter Gargi.
In the following years, Savitri had three more sons and another daughter. Nothing pleased her more than being able to save her daughters from the chauvinist society.
She started working with the handloom weavers, a work that she enjoyed. She would send all her children to the temple to learn the scriptures. Educating them was her priority. She worked her best at giving her sons the values of equality and respect. This was something she knew her mother never did.
She, thus, witnessed the affectionate bond between brothers and sisters which she had never experienced in her childhood. She thanked God often for such sons who portrayed the characters of Ram, Krishna and Vishnu.
At the same time, she knew that the culture at large was deprived of such gentlemen. Still, she believed that her children would become pioneers in the drive to make society harmonious and fair.
As she expected, they made her proud. While her younger daughter Maitryee chose to marry a dignified young man, her elder daughter decided to become a preacher.
Though many people were critical of Savitri’s way of life she was not wavered by society. Instead, she was guided by conscience and inspired by nature.
Some locals reluctantly accepted Gargi’s decision to devote her life to Preaching. But they soon recognized in her the traits of a Brahmavadini. Her bhajans had touched many hearts and inspired many lives.
Savitri, who was despised by her husband for a long time became his aid in his final years when he became crippled. He was weaker than her now and he needed her. He knew she had played a commendable role in bringing order and happiness to the house but he never complimented her for it. Instead, he remained mostly quiet.
The future of Savitri
Savitri had not forgotten her oldest companion. She had found the Godavari River in the town, running behind the Korangam temple. Both she and her friend had come a long way through.
She often made Gargi stay with her at the bank of the river. Gargi would sing a bhajan as a tribute to the Godavari…
‘Vaishnav Jan toh tene kahiye jey, Peer Paraayi Jaane Re….’
The bhajan repeatedly pointed out that a worshipper of Vishnu is someone who knows the pain of others. It was Savitri’s primary message that she had engraved in her children’s hearts.
Savitri’s eyes would well up with tears as she listened to it. She would pray for the liberation of women who were oppressed. She prayed for a day when men would not diminish the importance of women but highlight and respect it; and women would work together with men in finding further meaning to life than to fight for equality and freedom, which is every human’s God-given birthright.
