When I started the portion on ‘She is a delight to watch,’ it was my intention to show the character traits that Sita shares with the very ordinary women folk, who live their lives with us and brighten our days. I had mentioned very clearly that she is a many-coloured-rainbow and is a stunning mix of the very ordinary and the extraordinary. The narration on her prayers was simply intended to bring out the qualities that she has in common with the everyday woman of even this day. The reader who had commented on Part III of ‘She is a delight to watch’ would not have written the way he has, had he not missed this point. I very sincerely welcome criticism of the strongest kind for that aids introspection and honing and fine-tuning my approach. But I would consider it a matter of basic courtesy shown to me, to first read what I have written, before expressing views on my writing.
We have seen the side that is ordinary in Janaki. Let us now move on to what is not so ordinary. After the first few days of their life in exile, and after Bharata’s arrival and attempt to take Rama back to Ayodhya, Rama moves to Dandakaranya. The Book of Forests starts.
Though I reserve and postpone many sparkling qualities of Rama for an appropriate time, I am not able to stop myself in putting them forth now and then and one such is an observation in passing that Valmiki makes very casually, at the very opening of the Aranya Kanda. This is one more Sloka that speaks of his excellent qualities. And if I speak of this Sloka here, it is because we are going to study a later incident involving Sita, in comparison with this. I hope to be graced by the quality of patience from my scholarly readers.
Rama, the man who is used to moving about with the banded bow in hand (the bow that was given to him by Parasurama was deposited with Varuna and would be called back only when Rama wars against Khara and therefore the bow that he is carrying now is the normal banded bow) is extremely careful about how he carries it around. “Seeing that group of hermitages of sages, adorned with highly blessed Brahmanas, knowers of Brahma, the glorious and highly lustrous
Rama removed the string of his great bow and entered into the
hermitages.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto I, Sloka 10)
If the gunner keeps the barrel capped, the archer makes his intention abundantly clear by removing the string of his bow. That is a matter of respect that he shows to elders and sages. The bow had different purposes and was of different sizes. The hunter’s bow, lighter in many respects, for it had to be carried when the hunter had to run behind animals, differed greatly from the warrior’s massive bow, and was comparatively smaller. It is the hunter’s bow that many of our artists draw Rama with. The depiction is not correct, going according to what the Poets say. Many scholars feel that the warrior’s bow measured a length of six feet, that is, as tall as the archer. But when Sugriva demands Rama to kick the skeletal remains of Dundhubi, he asks him to kick them to a distance of “two hundred bows (or eight hundred arms) length” (Ibid, Kishkindha Kanda, Canto XI, Sloka 72). That shows that the Indian warriors’ bow was almost double the height of the archer. References to the Indian bow and arrows that were used by Porus against Alexander the Great, in Indika confirm this.
If that was the standard size of a bow, the banded bow of Rama would have struck terror in the minds of the perceiver, without doubt. But Rama had to carry the bow with him wherever he went. He could not leave it outside the hermitage and walk in bare handed, when meeting the sages. He removed the string instead, by way of showing his respect and reverence to the sages.
This Sloka gains additional significance, apart from the fact that it displays the good manners and etiquette that Rama observed, later, in a different way, later.
When I started the portion on ‘She is a delight to watch,’ it was my intention to show the character traits that Sita shares with the very ordinary women folk, who live their lives with us and brighten our days. I had mentioned very clearly that she is a many-coloured-rainbow and is a stunning mix of the very ordinary and the extraordinary. The narration on her prayers was simply intended to bring out the qualities that she has in common with the everyday woman of even this day. The reader who had commented on Part III of ‘She is a delight to watch’ would not have written the way he has, had he not missed this point. I very sincerely welcome criticism of the strongest kind for that aids introspection and honing and fine-tuning my approach. But I would consider it a matter of basic courtesy shown to me, to first read what I have written, before expressing views on my writing.
If the gunner keeps the barrel capped, the archer makes his intention abundantly clear by removing the string of his bow. That is a matter of respect that he shows to elders and sages. The bow had different purposes and was of different sizes. The hunter’s bow, lighter in many respects, for it had to be carried when the hunter had to run behind animals, differed greatly from the warrior’s massive bow, and was comparatively smaller. It is the hunter’s bow that many of our artists draw Rama with. The depiction is not correct, going according to what the Poets say. Many scholars feel that the warrior’s bow measured a length of six feet, that is, as tall as the archer. But when Sugriva demands Rama to kick the skeletal remains of Dundhubi, he asks him to kick them to a distance of “two hundred bows (or eight hundred arms) length” (Ibid, Kishkindha Kanda, Canto XI, Sloka 72). That shows that the Indian warriors’ bow was almost double the height of the archer. References to the Indian bow and arrows that were used by Porus against Alexander the Great, in Indika confirm this. 
