Sita's swayamvar and the bow, Bal Kand
Was there a swayamvar for Sita in Valmiki's Ramayana?
Both break the bow; Tulsidas adds the assembly
Not as a gathering of kings. In Valmiki (Bala Kanda, sargas 66 and 67), Janaka tells how suitors came over the years and none could lift Shiva's bow. He has it brought for Ram, who strings it and breaks it before thousands of onlookers. The assembly where ten thousand kings fail together is Tulsidas's (Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand).
Film, Valmiki, Tulsidas
Tap a lamp to see what that version has.
Film. In the film's telling (from trailers and the makers): the trailer shows Ram breaking Shiva's bow.
Valmiki. Ram breaks the bow. The kings had tried and failed earlier, on other days.
न शेकुर्ग्रहणे तस्य धनुषस्तोलनेऽपि वाThey could not take hold of it, or even lift it.
लीलया स धनुर्मध्ये जग्राह वचनान्मुनेःAt the sage's word he took the bow by the middle, as if it were play.
Tulsidas. Ten thousand kings fail together, then Ram breaks the bow before the full assembly.
भूप सहस दस एकहि बारा।लगे उठावन टरइ न टारा॥डगइ न संभु सरासनु कैसें।कामी बचन सती मनु जैसें॥Ten thousand kings tried to lift it at once, and it would not move. Shiva's bow stayed as unmoved as a faithful wife's heart before a seducer's words.
तेहि छन राम मध्य धनु तोरा।भरे भुवन धुनि घोर कठोरा॥In that instant Ram broke the bow in the middle, and a hard, terrible sound filled the worlds.
The whole episode
- Janaka found Sita in a ploughed field and set one condition for her marriage: the man who could string Shiva's bow.
- Kings came, failed, and in anger laid siege to Mithila for a year. When Vishvamitra brings Ram, Janaka has the bow wheeled out on its eight-wheeled cart.
- Tulsidas builds a full assembly around it: kings fail together, Janaka despairs aloud, Lakshman bristles, and Sita places the victory garland on Ram.
What it asks of you this week
Ram took up the bow when his teacher asked, and said little. This week, let one piece of your work speak before you do.
Seven mornings, one line each, for what you are going through. Week 1 is free.
Start Week 1 freeOr start with seven mornings: four Ramayana lines, then three from the Gita.
See all 11 scenes, or read Valmiki and Tulsidas, side by side.
Sources and method
Valmiki lines are from the Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana; references give the kanda and sarga, which match the Gita Press edition. Shloka numbers differ between printed editions, so each line also carries its Wisdom line id. Tulsidas lines are from the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi; where a doha number is given it follows the Gita Press, Gorakhpur edition, and where we could not yet confirm the number we give only the kand.
The English is Wisdom's own. For Valmiki we checked our wording against M. N. Dutt's public-domain translation (1891 to 1894). Readings follow traditional commentary. Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, human-reviewed.
What we say about the film comes only from its published trailers and press reports, linked where we use them. We have not seen the film.