” DHANUSHADHAAM AND LORD RAMA”

         It is believed  Paramashivan instructed  Vishwakarma  for making  a bow . The bow was   gifted to  King Janaka  for his devotion  .

This bow  was safely kept which  was  too  big and   needed almost  300 people to lift,  and a cart with several wheels  was used to push this cart . 

King Janaka was the ruler of the kingdom of Videha whose  capital  was Mithila.

 One day, while a field was being ploughed in the presence of the king, he found a female child in the deep furrow dug by the plough.

Janaka and his wife Sunayana were overjoyed by this discovery and adopted the little baby girl as their own.

The child was named Sita, meaning ‘Furrow’ in Sanskrit.

Thus, Sita is  glorified to be the daughter of Bhumi Devi (Mother Earth) since she was  found in the earth.

Sita grew up to be a girl of unparalleled beauty and charm and possessed the greatest of womanly virtues.

When Sita became of marriageable age, the king decided to have a Swayamvara which included a contest.

The king  announced that whosoever could wield the bow and string it, could marry Sita.

 On the other side  , after the protection of Vishwamitra’s sacred ritual, on their way back to Ayodhya,  Lord Rama and Lakshmana traveled to Mithila. Accompanied by Vishwamitra, they attended Sita’s Swayamvara.

 Lord Rama successfully broke Shiva’s bow as he picked it up and was examining the tautness of its bowstring. The young prince’s strength and courage perplexed all the attendees. And with the breaking of the bow, Janaka proposed Sita to  Lord Rama in marriage.

On the approval of Sage Vishwamitra, Janaka sent his messengers to Ayodhya to convey the message to Dasharatha.

He gladly accepted the marriage proposal of Rama and Sita .

 Lord Rama had performed the brave valor of lifting the mighty Siva danusha in his  divine pastime at this holy place  Dhanushaa  a place which  is located  about 30 kms from Janakpur near Bihar Nepal border .

This place is  also  popularly called as  ” Dhanush Sagar”.

As per the locals belief, it is said that when Lord Rama lifted the bow, it broke into 3 pieces -one piece went to heaven,  one  at Madhubani and the third piece fell at this place.

This broken bow  was submerged under a pipul tree during the course  .

Over a period of time , this bow has started growing   in size  since  ages .

Presently it measures about 12 metres.

 During our travel as a part of of our Sri Rama Anu Yatra  , the villagers  who we met  here  said that whenever there is a famine in this village , they  gather at this holy  place and pour milk near the  pipul  tree.

Few gallons of milk would be absorbed  in no time and when the milk starts overflowing,  it is believed the area would be blessed with rains  .

The area is  well protected by  a covered shed and  maintained  by the locals . Once in 3 years during a ritual ,  the locals  measure the size of the Dhanush,  and they find it to increase in size towards east by 3 cms or so.

This is one the most important places in Nepal not to be missed ..

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan