Figure in the Hindu festival stories
Satyavan
Savitri's husband, restored to life
In short
Satyavan is Savitri's husband in the Mahabharata, a prince fated to die young. Son of the blind, exiled king Dyumatsena, he lives in the forest and is chosen by Savitri despite a prophecy of his early death. When Yama takes his life, Savitri's devotion wins it back, and he is restored.
Reviewed by the Godify team · Last updated
Satyavan’s story and role
Satyavan appears in the Savitri episode of the Mahabharata's Vana Parva. He is the son of Dyumatsena, a king of the Shalva people who lost both his eyesight and his throne and was driven into exile, raising his son in a forest hermitage. Though born a prince, Satyavan grows up in simple surroundings, tending the hermitage and caring for his blind parents. He is known for his truthfulness and virtue, and in some accounts is also called Chitrashva for his love of horses, which he would sculpt and paint.
When Savitri, a princess, travels the land to choose her own husband, she settles on Satyavan for his nobility of character. The sage Narada reveals that Satyavan carries a single grave flaw of fortune: he is destined to die exactly one year from that day. Savitri marries him regardless. Satyavan lives out that year unaware of the prophecy, working and serving his parents, while Savitri quietly keeps count and, in the final days, takes up a stern fast.
On the fated day, Satyavan goes into the forest to gather wood and split logs. Struck by a sudden pain, he lays his head in Savitri's lap and dies, and Yama comes in person to take his soul. Through Savitri's devotion and her wise pleading, Yama returns the soul; Satyavan wakes as if from deep sleep, unaware he had died. He and Savitri return home to find that his father's sight and kingdom have also been restored. Satyavan's fate and his rescue are why he and Savitri are remembered together in the Vat Savitri observances honouring marital love and long life.
What Satyavan represents
Satyavan represents the life redeemed by another's devotion, the beloved whose worth is measured in the faith he inspires. His name, meaning 'truthful one', marks him as an emblem of virtue preserved and of a fate overturned by love.
Festivals with Satyavan
Related figures
More figures
About Satyavan
Who is Satyavan?
Satyavan is the husband of Savitri in the Mahabharata, son of the blind, exiled king Dyumatsena. A virtuous prince raised in a forest hermitage, he was fated to die one year after his marriage but was restored to life by Savitri's devotion.
Why was Satyavan destined to die young?
The sage Narada foretold that Satyavan, for all his virtues, would die exactly one year from the day Savitri chose him. The Mahabharata presents this simply as his fixed fate; Savitri married him knowing the prophecy and set out to overcome it.
How was Satyavan brought back to life?
When Yama took his soul, Savitri followed and won boons through her wisdom, finally trapping Yama with a request for sons she could bear only with Satyavan alive. Yama returned the soul, and Satyavan revived as though waking from sleep.
Was Satyavan really a prince?
Yes. He was the son of King Dyumatsena of the Shalva people, but his father had gone blind and lost his kingdom, so Satyavan was raised in forest exile. By the story's end, his father's sight and throne are restored along with Satyavan's life.
What does the name Satyavan mean?
Satyavan means 'the one possessed of truth' or 'truthful one'. The name reflects the character the Mahabharata gives him, a young man of honesty and virtue, which is part of why Savitri chose him despite the prophecy of his early death.
Bring Satyavan’s story to your own heart
Talk to Bhagavan about what this figure and their story mean for you — free, private, any hour.
Talk to Bhagavan