Sita Swayamvara

According to Hindu scriptures including the Ramayana, the divine bow Pinaka of the god Shiva was given to King Devarata Janaka of Mithila for its safe-keeping. Pinaka was received by Shreedhwaja Janaka in legacy. It was said that the bow was so powerful that no one was able to uplift it. Once, princess Sita had lifted this bow in her childhood. When the King Janaka saw Sita uplifting the divine bow Pinaka, he was impressed by her power and then he thought that she was no ordinary maiden.^[4]

After King Janaka thought that princess Sita should marry to a more powerful man who can uplift and break the bow. Therefore, when the princess Sita later grew up and became eligible for marriage, then the King Janaka organised Swayamvara Shabha at his court for the selection of bridegroom to the princess Sita. In the Swayamvara Shabha, the King Janaka put a condition among the participating kings that to become bridegroom of the princess Sita one had to uplift and break the divine bow Pinaka.^[4]

In different versions of Ramayana, there are some slight differences in the stories of the Sita Swayamvara. In the Ramayana serial of Ramanand Sagar, Sita Swayamvara ceremony is depicted as a single day ceremony at the court of King Janaka in which all the kings or princes of the kingdoms in the entire Aryavarta were invited. But according to some scholars and legends the Sita Swayamvara Shabha ceremony was not organised for a single day but for many different days.^[5][6]

According to legend, there is also a story of participation of King Ravan without any invitation. In the story Banashur, the Shabhapati of the assembly for swayamvara, asked introduction with the King Ravana, then Ravana became very angry with him. The dialogue between King Ravana and Banashur is popularly known as Ravana-Banashur Samvada.^[7] It is said that Ravana tried to uplift the divine bow of Lord Shiva forcefully there but was not able to uplift the bow. He even failed to move the divine bow a little bit. It is said that princess Sita was also not interested from her heart to adopt Ravana as her life partner. Then he returned from there after being humiliated with the public present in the assembly.^[8][9] According to Shree Ramcharitmanas, the reason behind the failure of Ravana at the Swayamvar Sabha was his proudness of power. It took love, not power, to uplift the bow. The eligibility and virtues of a person to uplift the divine bow were being kind, soft-spoken, gracious and far from ego.^[10] Before and after the King Ravana, many other powerful kings and princes tried to uplift the divine bow but no one was able to uplift the bow by their powers.

It is said that Guru Vishwamitra received invitation from the King Janaka to come in the Sita Swayamvara Shabha. After receiving the invitation, Guru Vishwamitra along with his disciples Rama and Lakshmana went to the Kingdom of Mithila. After few days they reached at the court of King Janaka where Sita Swayamvara Shabha was organised. In the Swayamvar Sabha, when all the kings and princes became unsuccessful in uplifting the divine bow, then Guru Vishwamitra directed his disciple Rama to uplift the divine bow.

It is said that the prince Rama first bowed to the divine bow Pinaka of Lord Shiva and then tried to lift it with the same ease and humility as princess Sita. His spirit succeeded and he was able to uplift the divine bow easily. After that he broke the bow. Then princess Sita came to prince Rama. She garlanded him with her swayamvara garland and accepted Lord Rama as her life partner.^[11]

In the modern times the Sita Swayamvara ceremony is still played and shown in dramas, theatre and Ramleela, etc. at different parts of the Indian subcontinent.^[12][13] In 2016, Siya Ke Ram television serial of Star Plus made special and grand episodes on the topic Sita Swayamvara. They also launched 15 days Dhanush Yatra that traveled 107 major cities of India across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab for the awareness of the popular epic event "Sita Swayamvara" in Ramayana.^[14]