Week 3 Story: One Condition

Rama breaking the bow (Wikipedia)

Portfolio Version: https://sites.google.com/view/sotpapepics/shivas-unyielding-bow

Two assistants push open the gold-adorned doors in front of us and we're bathed in the sterilizing white light flooding forth from the assembly hall. My fellow suitors are speechless at the grandeur of it all. As my eyes adjust, I can make out the figure of King Janaka seated at the end of the table, along with the daughter we had all desired the favor of. He tells us to step in and listen to his speech.

Still sitting, he commands: "To those who wish to wed my daughter, I present just one condition."

Confusion manifested in the form of soft murmurs for a short while, then stopped as the King began to speak again.

"You must simply string this ancient and powerful bow of Shiva."

As he finished, four attendants entered the room carrying what looked like a massive ornamental bow. My first thought was that no man could hope to string this.

Some quietly laughed after seeing the bow, imagining the condition to be a joke, but the king had no air of humor around him.

So one by one, we inspect the bow. I watch the other suitors walk around the thing, examining it from all angles, then failing to lift it. Try as they might, the bow would not be carried by a single man. As I inch closer I determine the bow to be longer than I am tall, at the very least. Engraved art wrapped around the wood and the bow, although chipped and dirty, carried an aura of divinity. It became clear that the King had not lied about the origin of this bow.

I do not try to lift the bow, as I know that even if I possessed the strength of the four men required to lift it, I do not have the strength of 4000 to string it. Looking back at the king, I think that he would not compromise on this condition, so I realize the only chance for me to win Sita's hand is through force. I take my leave from the palace of the king for now.

Author's Note: This is based off a small part of the Ramayana, where Rama and Lakshmana arrive in Mithila and falls in love with Sita. The king offers the same condition to every suitor: String the bow of Shiva, passed down for generations, and you can marry Sita. Rama does this easily but every previous suitor has failed and sent an army to Mithila to win by force. They all lost. I wanted to tell the story of a previous suitor and also give an idea of how big the gap of power is between humans and the gods through the bow.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan