Itihāsa / Rāmāyaṇa chronicle / Bāla · 5 of 50
5. Mithilā and the bow
Bāla (बाल)
They come to Mithilā, to Janaka's city. Janaka has a daughter, Sītā, born of the furrow when he was plowing the field for a sacrifice. She is not born of a womb. He has set a condition on her marriage that is really a despair. Śiva's bow stands in the hall, and no king has been able to string it, and the man who can will be the husband. The condition has outlasted many suitors.
Rāma does not come as a suitor. He comes as a boy following a sage, and the sage asks that he be shown the bow. He lifts it. He strings it. It breaks. The sound is the poem's way of saying a condition that looked like a wall was a door. Janaka weeps, and sends for Daśaratha. A marriage that kingdoms could not force has been settled by a guest.
Sītā has been watching a test of strength. The poem will spend the rest of itself asking what else a marriage is. The breaking of the bow is the easy part.
नेपालीमा
मिथिलामा जानकी सीता थिइन्, हलोको लीकबाट जन्मेकी। शिवको धनुष कसैले चढाउन सकेको थिएन, र जसले चढाउँछ उही उनका पति हुने सर्त थियो। राम वरका रूपमा होइन, ऋषिको पछि लागेका बालकका रूपमा आउनुभयो। उहाँले धनु चढाउनुभयो। धनु भाँचियो। जनकले दशरथलाई बोलाए। विवाहको सजिलो भाग यही हो। बाँकी कविताले विवाह अरू के हो भनेर सोध्छ।