She is No Savitri

Posted on by Reena Saxena

THE CHOSEN WORDS FROM OTHER LANGUAGES

Aurat  – commonly used for a woman in Hindi and Urdu

Aadmi – widely used for a man in Hindi and Urdu

Savitri –  Hindi word – a mythological character who saved her husband from the clutches of Yamraj, the God of Death, with her intelligent conversation.

The twist lies in the Arabic meaning of the first two words, which I discovered recently. Words can be translated, not the meaning embedded in a culture.

Aurat, in Arabic, refers to a defect, imperfection, blemish, or private parts.

Aadmi in Arabic means ‘human being’.

Now, you get why the Arabic meanings raised my feminist hackles.

Why Savitri?  It is a name, not a word, but it carries the burden of social expectations from a wife when she is held up to outdated and irrelevant standards.

I heard a sarcastic and toxic remark about a lady whose husband is seriously ill – “She is no Savitri.”

And that is the title of my work.

SHE IS NO SAVITRI

She is no Aurat
She can choose her names
for she is perfect
she is the blessed one
the seed from which Aadmi arises
and all variations of humanity

She may choose
to banish you
from her queendom
If your shameful acts
embarrass a mother
you have no claim
to her life and acts

She is no Savitri
for she will not strive
to save a patriarch
or fight his battles
when she has been left alone
to protect her honour, her sanity

She is no Savitri
for it is something
she never aspired to be
It’s all in your sick mind
your presumptuousness
which you need to shed
before you lie in your coffin
alone, unprotected
as she has always been

Poetics: I Have No Word in English for…

Photo by Ann H on Pexels.com

28 thoughts on “She is No Savitri”

  6. I love what you did with the prompt, Reena. Very powerful poem.

    …which I discovered recently. Words can be translated, not the meaning embedded in a culture.

    I believe a lot gets lost in translation. It is hard to translate culture into words.

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  9. This is an awesome post. I love learning words from other languages. We definitely need an equivalent for that in ours.

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  10. The Arabic meaning of Aurat comes as something of a shock, so plain an example of language mirroring misogyny in culture. Your use of the Savitri comment juxtaposes powerfully with “She is no Aurat,” Reena. It seems as if demonizing the Other, when the Other is female especially, is something language and culture seem tilted (un)naturally towards. By writing it out, you expose the crime and the vulnerability to it. Ironic that death stands as the great equalizer.

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