RAMA LIFTING AND STRINGING LORD SHIVA'S BOW AT KING JANAKA'S COURT
Jaipur, Rajasthan, North-Western India, ca. 1880 - 1920

Opaque pigments and ink heightened with gold on paper, the large vertical-format composition depicting a crucial scene in Valmiki's Ramayana epic preceding the breaking of Lord Shiva's bow by Rama at King Janaka's court officially manifesting his superhuman powers; the illustration portraying King Janaka, ruler of Mithila and father of Sita, seated on a high chair across from Rama, surrounded by a plethora of high-rank crowned courtiers, on the opposite side Rama, his brother Lakshmana, and a sadhu, perhaps an incarnated form of Lord Shiva, in the middle of the scene Rama holding and stringing Lord Shiva's bow (Pinaka), the upper floor of the palace livened by curious ladies and Sita portrayed with a halo and observing the scene from the distance, the composition set within white and black rules, mounted on a white cotton-lined frame, the reverse bearing notes in English identifying the scene and attributing the work to 19th-century Rajasthani Kota School, 42cm x 32cm including the frame.

In the narrative of Valmiki's Ramayana, the present scene plays an instrumental role in the lead of the following events characterising Rama's life and divine manifestation. King Janaka, a once childless king, found Sita in a furrow when he was ploughing a field as part of a yagna and decided to raise her as his own. Following ancient Indian traditions, when Sita reached her adulthood, King Janaka organised her svayamvara, a method of marriage in which the bride chooses a man as her husband from a group of suitors once he has proven himself worthy and has met her sets of conditions or passed her challenges. In Sita's svayamvara, King Janaka proclaimed that his daughter would only marry the man who could lift and string Lord Shiva's bow, the Pinaka. According to the Hindu epic, the celestial bow of Shiva could not be approached by selfish individuals and was not liftable by ordinary mortals. Therefore, the act of stringing the bow would be a test to distinguish the exceptional strength and virtues of the one who could accomplish the feat. In front of King Janaka and his court, Rama not only effortlessly lifted the bow and strung it, but he also unintentionally broke it, when he started stretching the bowstring to examine its tautness, manifesting his divine nature and superhuman qualities.