Persistence Archives - understand-culture

Savitri Follows

In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, Yama, the god of death, takes the life of Satyavan. His wife Savitri follows. Yama tells her: “Desist, O Savitri! Go back.” She replies, in the Ganguli translation: “Whither my husband is being carried, or whither he goeth of his own accord, I will follow him thither.”

She keeps walking beside Yama and talking with him about righteousness. He grants her boons one after another, and in the end her husband’s life.

Married women still honor her in the festival of Vat Savitri, also called Vat Purnima.

Three Nights at Death’s Door

In the Katha Upanishad, the boy Nachiketa waits three nights at the house of Yama, the god of death. To make amends, Yama grants him three boons. For the third, Nachiketa asks what comes after death.

Yama offers him anything else instead. “Choose sons and grandsons who shall live each a hundred years,” he says, and he offers riches and beautiful women with chariots. Nachiketa refuses: “Man is not to be satisfied by riches.”

Bhagiratha’s Effort

Bhagirath prayatna, Bhagiratha’s effort. A Hindi dictionary defines it as “a Herculean effort, tremendous effort.” A Kannada dictionary defines the same phrase as “undetered, rigorous effort that leads to success despite severe odds.”

King Bhagiratha performed long penance until the river Ganga came down from heaven to the earth.

A Rope on Stone

Karat karat abhyas ke jadmati hot sujan, rasri aavat jaat te sil par parat nisan. By practice upon practice the dull become wise. A rope going back and forth leaves a mark on stone.

The couplet is taught in Indian primary schools.

He Followed Me There

Rajkumar Shukla came from Champaran, an indigo district in Bihar, and wanted Gandhi to go there. In his autobiography Gandhi wrote: “This man caught hold of me at Lucknow, where I had gone for the Congress of 1916.”

“From Lucknow I went to Cawnpore. Rajkumar Shukla followed me there.” Gandhi promised to come. “Before I reached Bhupen Babu’s place in Calcutta, Rajkumar Shukla had gone and established himself there.” Gandhi went with him to Champaran.

Eight Meetings

On February 17, 1931, Gandhi met the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, to negotiate a settlement of the civil disobedience campaign. The two men had eight meetings that totaled 24 hours. On March 5, 1931, they signed the settlement that became known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

Fifteen Years to a Law

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, an organization of workers and farmers in Rajasthan, was founded on May 1, 1990, at a rally of 1,000 people from 27 villages. It held jan sunwais, public hearings, where official documents were obtained and read aloud.

In September 1995 a meeting in Beawar made the first public demand for a legal right to information. Rajasthan passed a right to information law in 2000. The campaign “culminated in the enactment of the RTI Act in 2005.”

Eighteen Years of Talks

Negotiations on a free trade agreement between India and the European Union began on June 28, 2007. They stalled in 2013. On June 17, 2022, the two sides formally relaunched them. The conclusion of the negotiations was announced on January 27, 2026, at a summit at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

Door to Door

In 1969 Karsanbhai Patel began to sell detergent powder that he made and packed in his backyard. He cycled through neighborhoods and sold the packets door to door, at 3 rupees a kilo. That was one third of the price of the leading brands. He called it Nirma.