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Rama threw the two pieces of the bow on the ground, and at the sight all the people were happy. Between that moment and the end of this episode come the victory garland that Sita, helpless with love, lifts in both hands and then places on Rama’s breast. The feet she does not touch. Kings who rise in armor, one of whom says that breaking the bow has not fulfilled the wish. And the one arrival at which every king in the assembly rises in fear.
The queen rejoices, Janaka gives up his worry, and the kings lose their luster. Shatananda gives the order, and Sita walks to Rama with the gait of a young swan. Told to hold his feet, she remembers the fate of Gautama’s wife and does not touch them. Kings who look at her are filled with desire, and the good kings shame them and set seven likenesses before their greed. Sita is taken to her mother, Rama goes toward his guru, and the women of the city abuse the kings. Then Parashurama comes, and the kings rise and give their names. He blesses Sita and the two brothers and asks Janaka what the crowd is. He sees the pieces on the ground and threatens to overturn the earth. The episode ends on the doha in which Rama, seeing everyone afraid, begins to speak.
Who stood where in the assembly of the garland
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who throws the two pieces of the bow on the ground and receives the victory garland on his breast. He laughs in his mind when Sita does not touch his feet, knowing her love to be beyond this world. He goes toward his guru praising her love in his mind. He is laid at Parashurama’s feet and blessed. Seeing everyone afraid, he begins to speak with neither joy nor sorrow in his heart. His words belong to the next episode.
- Sita Janaka’s daughter, who walks to Rama with the gait of a young swan. She stays as if drawn in a picture at the sight of his beauty. She lifts the garland in both hands and places it on his breast. She remembers the fate of Gautama’s wife and does not touch his feet. She is taken to her mother, alarmed at the uproar. She salutes Parashurama and is blessed. Hearing of his nature, she finds half the time an eyelid takes to fall passing like a kalpa, an age of the world. She says nothing aloud in this episode.
- Lakshmana Rama’s younger brother. He looks at Rama as a young chakora looks at the moon. He cannot speak for fear of Rama when the kings threaten. He looks at them in rage, with red eyes and crooked brows, as if a lion cub were roused at the sight of a herd of maddened elephants. With Rama he is laid at Parashurama’s feet and blessed. The good kings call his fury a strong fire.
- Janaka and the queen Sita’s father and mother. He gives up worry as if a tired swimmer had found bottom. He has Sita salute Parashurama and tells him why the kings came. Called dull and a fool and threatened with the overturning of the earth, he gives no answer in his great fear. She rejoices as if water had fallen on drying rice. She is the one to whom Sita, alarmed at the uproar, is taken. She regrets in her mind that the Creator has spoiled a thing that was made.
- Vishvamitra and Shatananda Vishvamitra, a pure ocean of love in whom heavy waves of thrills rise at the full moon of Rama’s form. He lays the two brothers at Parashurama’s feet and, in the commentary’s reading, names them as Dasharatha’s sons. Shatananda, who gives the order. Then Sita goes to Rama.
- Parashurama who comes at the news of the breaking, with ash on his fair body, matted hair, a face reddened with anger. Two quivers, bow and arrows, and the axe on his shoulder. Before him the kings give their names and fall full length in salute. He blesses Sita and the two brothers, and his eyes are stilled on Rama. He asks Janaka what the great crowd is, sees the pieces of the bow, and calls Janaka dull and a fool.
- Sita’s companions and the kings The companions, beautiful and quick-witted, go with Sita singing. One of them tells her to put the garland on him, and they tell her to hold his feet. They take her to the queen, and, after the blessing, to their own company. The kings lose their luster when the bow breaks. Kings filled with desire at the sight of Sita, cruel, degenerate, and foolish, put on armor and threaten. The good kings shame them. All of them rise in fear and fall full length before Parashurama. The crooked kings rejoice in their minds.
The bow on the ground, the cry of victory in the sky
The Lord threw the two pieces of the bow on the ground, and seeing it, all the people were happy. Vishvamitra was a pure ocean, with the handsome, unfathomed water of love. When that ocean saw the full moon that was Rama’s form, heavy waves of thrills rose in it, row upon row. Drums sounded loudly in the sky, and the wives of the gods danced as they sang.
Brahma and the other gods, the siddhas, and the great sages praised the Lord and gave their blessings. They rained down flowers of many colors, and garlands with them, and the kinnaras sang sweet songs. The cry of “victory, victory” filled the worlds, and inside it the sound of the bow’s breaking could not be made out. Here and there glad men and women said: “Rama has broken Shiva’s heavy bow.”
The bards, the minstrels, and the panegyrists, steady of wit, recited titles of honor. All the people made offerings of horses, elephants, wealth, jewels, and cloth. Cymbals, mridangas, conches, shehnais, bheris, dhols, and handsome kettledrums: many handsome instruments played, and here and there young women sang songs of good omen.
The happiness of the queen, of Janaka, and of Sita
The queen, with her companions, rejoiced greatly, as if water had fallen on drying rice. Janaka gave up his worry and found happiness, as if a man tired out with swimming had found bottom.
The kings lost their luster when the bow broke, as a lamp’s beauty leaves it by day. Sita was happy as if a chatak had found the water of the Svati star. Lakshmana looked at Rama the way a young chakora looks at the moon.
Then Shatananda gave the order, and Sita went to Rama. Her companions went with her, beautiful and quick-witted, singing songs of good omen. She walked with the gait of a young swan, with boundless beauty in every limb.
The victory garland lifted in both hands
Among her companions Sita shone like a great beauty among a host of beauties. In her lotus hand was the handsome victory garland, and the splendor of victory over the world had spread through it. There was bashfulness in her body and supreme eagerness in her mind, and her love, hidden, could be seen by no one. She went near, she saw Rama’s beauty, and the princess stayed as if she had been drawn in a picture.
A quick-witted companion saw it, and explained, and said: “Put the handsome victory garland on him.” Hearing it, Sita lifted the garland in both hands. She was helpless with love, and the garland could not be put on. It shone as if two lotuses on their stalks were giving the victory garland to the moon, and were afraid. The commentary sets her two hands in the image as the lotuses. The companions saw that beauty and sang, and Sita placed the victory garland on Rama’s breast.
Seeing the victory garland on Rama’s breast, the gods rained flowers. All the kings were abashed, like a host of night-lotuses at the sight of the sun.
Sita’s hesitation amid the cheering
Instruments played in the city and in the sky. The wicked grew gloomy, and the good all rejoiced. Gods, kinnaras, men, nagas, and great sages cried “victory, victory, victory” and gave their blessings. The wives of the gods danced and sang, and again and again handfuls of flowers were let fall. Here and there brahmins sounded the Veda, and bards recited titles of honor.
The fame of it spread through the earth, the underworld, and heaven: Rama has chosen Sita and has broken the bow. The men and women of the city performed the arati and gave their offerings, forgetting their means. The commentary reads it as giving far beyond what they could afford.
The pair that Sita and Rama made shone as if beauty and love had been gathered in one place. The companions said: “Hold the Lord’s feet, Sita.” Very afraid, she did not touch his feet. She remembered the fate of Gautama’s wife, whom the commentary names Ahalya. By a curse that woman had borne a body of stone and longed for the dust of these same feet. Sita did not touch them with her hands. Rama laughed in his mind, knowing her love to be a love beyond this world.
The threats of kings in armor
Then kings looked at Sita and were filled with desire, and, cruel, degenerate, and foolish, they flared up in their minds. Those wretches rose, one and then another, put on their armor, and began to boast here and there. One said: “Seize Sita. Take hold of the two princes and bind them. The wish is not fulfilled by breaking the bow. While we live, who can wed the princess? And if Janaka gives any help, conquer him in battle, and the two brothers with him.”
The good kings heard those words and spoke. “Shame is ashamed of the company of kings. Your strength, your might, your valor, your greatness, and your noses went off with the bow. Is this that same valor, or one found now from somewhere? With intellect such as this, the Creator has smeared ink on your faces.” The nose, in the commentary’s reading, is their honor. They went on: “Look at Rama with your eyes full, giving up envy, pride, and wrath. Knowing Lakshmana’s fury to be a strong fire, do not become moths.”
Seven likenesses set before their greed
The good kings went on: “As a crow wants Garuda’s share, as a hare wants the share of the elephant’s foe, as a man wrathful without cause wants welfare. As an enemy of Shiva wants all wealth, as the greedy and the covetous want lovely fame (and does a lustful man gain stainlessness?). As one who has turned from the Lord’s feet wants the highest state: such is your greed, kings.” The elephant’s foe is the lion, and the highest state is liberation, in the commentary’s glosses.
Sita goes to her mother, Rama to his guru
Sita heard the uproar and was alarmed, and her companions took her away to where the queen was. Rama went toward the guru with natural ease, praising Sita’s love in his mind as he went. Sita, with the queens, was in the grip of worry: “What is the Creator going to do now?” Lakshmana heard the kings’ words and looked this way and that. For fear of Rama he could not speak. His eyes were red, and his brows were crooked. He looked at the kings in rage, as if a lion cub had been roused at the sight of a herd of maddened elephants.
The women of the city saw the commotion and were distressed, and all of them together abused the kings. At that moment, hearing that Shiva’s bow was broken, the sun to the lotus of the Bhrigu line came. The commentary names him Parashurama.
A sage’s appearance, heroism’s form
At the sight of him all the kings were abashed, as quail hide when a hawk swoops. On his fair body the ash shone well, and on his broad forehead the mark of three lines shone. His hair was matted on his head, and his handsome moon of a face had gone somewhat red with anger. His brows were crooked and his eyes red with anger. Even when he looked at a thing naturally, it seemed as if he were angry.
His shoulders were like a bull’s, and his breast and his arms were broad. He wore a handsome sacred thread, a garland, and a deerskin. At his waist was a sage’s garment, with two quivers tied on. A bow and arrows were in his hand, and the axe lay on his lovely shoulder. His appearance was peaceful and his deeds were hard, and his form could not be described. It was as if heroism had taken a sage’s body and come to where all the kings were.
First the names, then the bows and the blessings
At the sight of Parashurama’s terrible appearance all the kings rose, distressed with fear. Each said his own name and his father’s with it, and all of them began to fall full length before him in salute. Whomever he looked at with natural ease, knowing him a well-wisher, that man felt as if his life had run out. Then Janaka came and bowed his head, and called Sita and had her salute him. He gave her his blessing. Her companions rejoiced, and those clever companions took her to their own company.
Then Vishvamitra came and met him, and laid the two brothers at his lotus feet. “Rama and Lakshmana, Dasharatha’s sons”: the commentary gives the words to Vishvamitra. Parashurama saw the fine pair and gave his blessing. His eyes, looking at Rama, stayed stilled on a form past measure, the form that strips Kamadeva of his pride.
The cause of the crowd, and the broken pieces
Then he looked around and asked Janaka, knowing, yet like one who did not know: “Say, what is the great crowd?” As he asked, rage spread through his body. Janaka told him the news, the reason all the kings had come. Hearing the words, he turned and looked the other way, and there he saw the pieces of the bow lying on the ground.
In great anger he spoke hard words. “Say, dull Janaka, who broke the bow? Show him to me quickly, fool, or else today I will overturn the earth as far as your kingdom reaches.”
In great fear, the king gave no answer. The crooked kings rejoiced in their minds. Gods, sages, nagas, and the men and women of the city all worried, with a great dread in their hearts. Sita’s mother, in her mind, was full of regret: “The Creator has now spoiled a thing that was made.” And for Sita, hearing of Parashurama’s nature, half the time an eyelid takes to fall passed like a kalpa, an age of the world.
Rama sees everyone’s fear
Rama saw that all the people were afraid, and he knew that Sita was frightened. With neither joy nor sorrow in his heart, he spoke.
One assembly, and the looks that change in it
Vishvamitra sees the full moon of Rama’s form, and heavy waves of thrills rise in him. Lakshmana looks at Rama as a young chakora looks at the moon. Sita goes near, sees Rama’s beauty, and stays as if drawn in a picture. The gods see the victory garland on Rama’s breast and rain flowers.
Kings look at Sita and are filled with desire, and the good kings tell them to look at Rama with eyes full. Lakshmana, hearing the kings, looks this way and that, and then looks at them in rage. The kings see Parashurama and are abashed. Even a natural look of his seems angry. His eyes, looking at Rama, are stilled. He looks around and asks Janaka what the great crowd is. After Janaka tells him the news he looks the other way and sees the pieces of the bow on the ground.
The episode’s last look is Rama’s: he sees that all the people are afraid, knows that Sita is frightened, and speaks, with neither joy nor sorrow in his heart. The next episode opens on what he says to Parashurama: that the one who broke Shiva’s bow will be some servant of his. And a question, what his order is and why he does not tell him.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 5: Parashurama, and the Return to Ayodhya.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, doha 262 to 270, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.