Śiva-Dhanus

The Śiva-dhanus is the bow of Bhagavān Śiva. It is also called Śiva Cāpa or Piṇāka. It was kept in the court of King Janaka of Mithilā. It was so heavy and powerful that no king or hero could lift it or string it.

Janaka had set a condition for the marriage of his daughter Sītā. The man who could lift and break this bow would have Sītā as his bride. Countless kings tried and failed. Rāmacandra lifted it with ease, strung it, and broke it in a moment. The sound shook the three worlds. This event is the Śiva-dhanus-bhaṅga (the breaking of Śiva’s bow). It led directly to the Sītā-Rāma kalyāṇa (wedding).

The bow and its history

The Śiva-dhanus, Piṇāka, was a weapon of divine origin, linked with Bhagavān Śiva. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells how it came to Janaka’s court. Janaka’s ancestor received the bow when the devas gathered at a great yajña. Janaka inherited it and guarded it as a divine treasure. He kept it in a specially prepared hall with five thousand servants.

The bow was very large. It was a massive weapon set with gems, of cosmic size. It was kept on an eight-wheeled vehicle that many men had to pull. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, gives this account.

The condition for Sītā’s marriage

Janaka had said that whoever could lift, string and break this bow would receive his daughter Sītā in marriage. Kings came to the dhanuryajña (the bow ceremony). They were great warriors, kings of vast armies, heroes known across the earth. One by one they tried and failed. Not one could lift the bow from its place. Even ten thousand kings trying together could not move it. Janaka sadly said that no worthy hero was left in the world. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Dhanus Bhaṅga, gives this account.

Broken by Rāmacandra

Viśvāmitra asked Rāmacandra to try. Rāma rose and walked forward as easily as a lordly lion. He lifted the bow as lightly as one lifts a garland. He bent it in one smooth motion and strung it. In the same moment the bow snapped, with a sound like thunder that rang through the earth and up to svarga. The three worlds shook. The devas in the sky showered flowers and sounded their divine drums. Sītā came forward and put the jayamāla (victor’s garland) on Rāmacandra. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Dhanus Bhaṅga, gives this account.

News that the bow had broken brought Paraśurāma to Mithilā in blazing anger. The bow was sacred to his devotion to Śiva. His meeting with Rāma and how it ended are told in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa account of Paraśurāma’s arrival.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Dhanus Bhaṅga
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa