Shloka 68
मार्कण्डेय उदाच उपलभ्य तत: संज्ञां सुखसुप्त इवोत्थित: । दिश: सर्वा वनान्तांश्व निरीक्ष्योवाच सत्यवान्,मार्कण्डेयजी कहते हैं--युधिष्ठिर! तब होशमें आकर सत्यवान् सुखपूर्वक सोये हुए पुरुषकी भाँति उठकर सम्पूर्ण दिशाओं तथा वनप्रान््तकी ओर दृष्टि डालकर बोले --'सुमध्यमे! मैं फल लानेके लिये तुम्हारे साथ घरसे निकला था, फिर लकड़ी चीरते समय मेरे सिरमें जोर-जोरसे दर्द होने लगा था
mārkaṇḍeya uvāca—upalabhya tataḥ saṃjñāṃ sukha-supta ivotthitaḥ | diśaḥ sarvā vanāntāṃś ca nirīkṣyovāca satyavān—
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Then, regaining consciousness, Satyavān rose as though he had been sleeping peacefully. Looking all around—toward every direction and the edges of the forest—he spoke. The scene underscores the fragile boundary between life and death and prepares the moral focus of the episode: steadfast love and truthfulness meeting the law of death.”
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the precariousness of life and the ethical frame of the Savitrī–Satyavān narrative: truthfulness and steadfast dharma are tested precisely at moments when life seems to slip away, setting the stage for dharmic resolve against death’s inevitability.
After a collapse, Satyavān regains consciousness, rises as if from restful sleep, and looks around the forest in all directions before speaking—an interlude that marks a temporary return to awareness just before the decisive encounter with death in the larger episode.