Before we commence our study of Savitri, let us be clear to ourselves that we are not reading it as a poem, even as a literary masterpiece, noting the diction, the similes and metaphors and other details. Our purpose in studying it is to enter into the spirit behind it, and in the measure we identify ourselves with that inspiration, we shall grow in our understanding. And this understanding is not an understanding of the mind, though that also is possible, but as the Mother put it, it is more an understanding of the heart.

With these preliminary observations we take up the first canto The Symbol Dawn. In this cant there is a certain parallelism. The Dawn that is spoken of is not only the dawn of that fateful day when Satyavan must die, but it is also the beginning of the present cycle of Creation. In Sanskrit we call it dhvani, very poorly rendered in English by the word ‘suggestion’. In the earlier portions of the canto at any rate, the context of the dawn of creation is more preponderant than the dawn of the physical day. That is why it is entitled “The Symbol Dawn”—the dawn as a symbol: not merely the dawn before sunrise but the symbol of something else.

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