Baal Kaanda
49 - The princes' failure to lift the bow and Janaka's despondent utterance
Chaupais
Description
Tell me, who would not have this prize? But none could string the bow. Let alone stringing or breaking it, there was not one of you, brothers, who could stir it even a grain's breadth from its place. Now no one who prides on his valour should feel offended if I assert that there is no hero left on earth to my mind. Give up all hope and turn your faces homewards. It is not the will of Providence that Sita should be married. All my religious merits shall be gone if I abandon my vow. The princess must remain a maid; what can I do? Had I known, brothers, that there are no more heroes in the world, I would not have made myself a laughing-stock by undertaking such a vow." All who heared Janaka's words, men and women alike, felt distressed at the sight of Janaki. Laksmana, however got incensed: his eyebrows were knit, his lips quivered and his eyes shot fire.