66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

ceremony at Janaka’s palace.
At the assembly hall King Janaka noticed Rama and
Lakshmana, and asked Viswamithra, “Who are those
attractive-looking young men?” Viswamithra explained.
When he heard of Rama’s lineage and prowess, Janaka
said with a sigh, “How I wish it were possible for me to
propose my daughter for him.” Viswamithra understood the
cause of his despair. A seemingly insurmountable condition
existed in any proposal concerning Sita’s marriage.
King Janaka had in his possession an enormous bow
which at one time belonged to Shiva, who had abandoned it
and left it in the custody of an early ancestor of Janaka’s,
and it had remained an heirloom. Sita, as a baby girl, was a
gift of Mother Earth to Janaka, being found in a furrow when
a field was ploughed. Janaka adopted the child, tended her,
and she grew up into a beauty, so much so that several
princes who considered themselves eligible thronged
Janaka’s palace and contended for Sita’s hand. Unable to
favour anyone in particular, and in order to ward them off,
King Janaka made it a condition that whoever could lift,
bend, and string Shiva’s bow would be considered fit to
become Sita’s husband. When her suitors took a look at the
bow, they realized that it was a hopeless and unacceptable
condition. They left in a rage, and later returned with their
armies, prepared to win Sita by force. But Janaka resisted