January 25, 2006

Savitri, a symbol and a quest

Sri Aurobindo used the storyline of a well-known legend from the Mahabharata and turns it into a symbol and a quest, a symbol of and a quest for the highest that mankind can aspire for.

The opening pages of the earliest known manuscript of Savitri are dated as August 8 and 9th, 1916. And in November 1950, during the last months of his sojourn on earth in His physical body, Sri Aurobindo dictated the last passages to be added to the work. Savitri actually grew from about 800 lines to about 24 000 lines between 1916 and 1950.

Sri Aurobindo took upon himself a tremendous labour of love, unparalleled in the history of literary creation as he compiled in this colossal endeavour, about 8000 pages of manuscript with some of the passages evolving through as many as fifty versions. Charvi
In M P Pandit’s words, Sri Aurobindo has turned this common legend into “a symbol of the quest of humanity for the crown of immortality”. In this great epic poetry, Sri Aurobindo, expounds the philosophy of Poorna Yoga, or Integral Yoga in his very own uplifted style. Satyavrat Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore SYG - The Sunshine Youth Group

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