Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 30: Rāma Allows Sītā to Follow Him to the Forest
Text 2.30.6
द्युमत्सेनसुतं वीर सत्यवन्तमनुव्रताम्।
सावित्रीमिव मां विद्धि त्वमात्मवशवर्तिनीम्॥
dyumatsena-sutaṁ vīra satyavantam anuvratām
sāvitrīm iva māṁ viddhi tvam ātma-vaśa-vartinīm
dyumatsena-sutam = the son of Dyumatsena; vīra = O hero; satyavantam = to [her husband] Satyavān; anuvratām = and who was devoted; sāvitrīm = Sāvitrī; iva = to be like; mām = me; viddhi tvam = consider; ātma-vaśa-vartinīm = who had completely controlled her mind.
O hero, consider me to be like Sāvitrī who had completely controlled her mind and who was devoted to [her husband] Satyavān, the son of Dyumatsena.
GLOSS. It should be understood from the Vana-parva of Mahābhārata that a lady named Sāvitrī was informed of a man named Satyavān by Nārada as a man of short life. Despite this, she said that she would not give up [the idea of marrying] him since she had resolved to do so. She married Satyavān and after a year he died in the forest. Yamarāja had arrived to take him. She followed Yamarāja when he took [the soul of] Satyavān with him and had him release Satyavān. She then embraced Satyavān who had come back alive and brought him back to their āśrama.1
NOTE. Sītā-devī, being the goddess of fortune herself, is factually the guru of unblemished chastity for all women in this world. So, this verse is like the statement, iṣuvad gacchati savitā: “The sun moves like an arrow.”2