Savithri

Today we leave behind Manu and read about his daughter Savithri who is the central protagonist of the Grandad's unfinished novel/novella.

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Manu’s short stint in jail had removed any desire to contribute to social upliftment. Money had never been a problem. He took to a new life of travel to holy places and meditation.

Manu had three daughters, the last of whom was named Savithri. There was a belief that when a baby girl was named Savithri, the subsequent offspring would be a boy.

The Savithri of legend who lent her name to Manu’s daughter had been a princess, the only child of a king who longed for a son. Out in the forest one day, having left her bodyguards behind, she chanced upon Sathyavan, a prince in exile. Savithri, never shy, suggested marriage. Sathyavan then revealed the curse that would make him die young. This did not deter Savithri and soon the two were married. The appointed hour of death arrived. The story of how Savithri obtained three boons from Yama, thus restoring her husband’s kingdom and life are well known. The little known second boon granted many sons to her father. This boon had been the source of the belief that a son would follow a daughter named Savithri.

There were no further additions to Manu’s brood.

Savithri was all of two when Manu went to prison and she had vague memories of Manu getting into a van and her mother crying. When Manu returned from the prison, his spiritual life dictated a certain detachment from the family. Her two sisters had married early, this left her the only child in a very large house. She was lively, full of pranks, a carefree bird. In the family orchard, she spurned the mangoes plucked by the caretaker. Instead she climbed the trees, ate the mangoes off them, while a worried caretaker hovered beneath. This then was Savithri.

Savithri had another advantage, the education denied to her sisters. A Scottish Mission had started a girls' high school in the town. Brahmin parents, pressured to marry their girls before puberty, would rarely send their girls to school. Few spared a thought for a girl’s education, inheritance or even polygamy. Many a girl paid a heavy price for this dharma, though it was commonly attributed to fate and little changed.

The first Brahmin girl who went to this school was the daughter of a vaccinator who had come to Mannargudi on transfer. Slowly but steadily other girls joined. Perhaps a newly introduced law also helped. In 1933, the Indian Legislative Assembly enacted a law popularly known as Sarda Act which laid down the miniumum age of marriage at thirteen for girls. This law was effective in states directly under the British crown. The beneficiary was Savithri and she joined the school.

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Picture source here.