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Continued
from yesterday’s instalment
 As is wont of all stories, the story of the Bow of Shiva has a hundred different variants. Many are the stories that are associated with the decision that Janaka took in specifying the condition that this bow has to be strung and an arrow shot from it, to qualify for winning the hand of Sita. One is that Sita, while still a child lifted the bow up playfully and therefore Janaka was left with no option but to specify this condition. None of these stories is supported by either Valmiki or Kamban.
Janaka in Valmiki simply tells Viswamitra, "There upon all the kings (literally, rulers of men) came to Mithila in a body and inquired of the standard by which their prowess was going to be judged, O jewel among sages! Then the bow of Lord Shiva was brought before the inquisitive princes. They (however) could not even support it, much less toss it (in order to be able to ascertain its weight). Perceiving (as I did) the prowess of those princes, who claimed (great) prowess to be deficient, O eminent sage, those rulers of men were rejected (by me)." (Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda, Canto
XVII, Sloka19).
And the bow reached the hands of Janaka through Devarata, the forefather of Janaka. 'It was this bow,' Janaka tells Viswamitra and the boys who have come, especially the dark one who is so anxious to demonstrate his prowess, 'that Rudra bent on the celestials who participated in Daksha Yaga. In fact the boy was not anxious. It was unknown to him. What he had was the curiosity of a child when it sets its eye on a new toy. "Pulling the string of this bow in sport with the purpose of wrecking he sacrifice of Daksha in the olden days, the valiant Lord Rudra (the god of destruction) for his part angrily spoke to the gods…" (Ibid, Sloka 9)
 The Devas fell at the feet of Lord Shiva and He in turn was pleased with them and handed the Bow to them. "Then that celebrated jewel among bows was deposited (by them) as a trust with our powerful forefather (Devarata)." (Ibid, Sloka 12) Janaka decided to use this bow to measure the strength of the prince who sought the hand of Sita. None could qualify it. Sage Satananda, the guru of Janaka says that the princes, highly irritated as they were, for having been required to perform a superhuman task, collected together and warred against Janaka. It was not difficult for Janaka to quell all of them. But he did not go back on what he decided. He was firm in his demand, though not a single king could achieve what was demanded.
It was a massive bow, mounted on a wheeled box that had to be hauled by hundreds of warriors. 'Sixty thousand,' says Kamban hauled it. The arithmetical accuracy of the number doesn't matter. It simply boils down to the fact that if it all it had to be moved from its position, a large number of people were required to perform the task.
More follows...
Published on 17th
December 2002
Hari Krishnan
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