Savitri Amabasya
Savitri
Amavasya is a regional public holiday in the Indian state of Odisha on
the last day of the dark fortnight, in the month of Jyestha. This
means it falls in May or June in the western calendar.
Traditions of Savitri Amavasya
In
the early morning, women take purifying baths, wear new clothes and
bangles, and apply red vermilion to their foreheads. Nine types of
fruits and nine types of flowers are offered to the Goddess Savitri.
The
women fast from sunrise to sunset. During the day they pray for their
husbands to have a long life, and listen to the tale of Savitri, who saved her husband Satyavan from being taken by the death god.
Savitri
was the beautiful daughter of King Aswapati of Madra Desa. She had
chosen Satyaban as her life partner. Satyaban was a prince in exile who
was living in the forest with his blind father. Savitri left her palace
to live with her husband and his father in the forest. She was a
devoted wife and daughter-in-law, going to great lengths to take care
of them.
One day while cutting wood in the
forest, Satyaban’s suddenly weak, collapsed and died. As Savitri rushed
to the dead body of her husband, Yamraj, the death God, appeared to
take away his soul. Savitri pleaded to Yamraj not to be separated from
her husband. She implored the god that if he takes her husband's soul
of her husband, hers should be taken too. Yamraj was so moved by the
devotion of Savitri, that he returned the life of her husband.
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