Lord Rama had married Sita ji by breaking the hard bow of Lord Shiva on the orders of Guru Vishwamitra ji in Sita ji’s swayamvar. But who made that bow of Shiva and by whom and how did that Shiva bow reach Maharaj Janak ji, very few people know this secret.
There is a wonderful story of Pinaka Dhanush. It is said that once Kanva Muni was doing a great penance inside the ghastly ear. Being in samadhi while doing penance, he did not realize that his body had been made bambi by termites. A beautiful bamboo grew on that pile of soil. When Kanva ji’s penance was completed, then Brahma ji appeared and he made Kanva ji’s body beautiful with his unfading water.
Brahma ji granted him many boons and when Brahma ji started leaving, then he realized that the bamboo growing on Kanva’s corpse cannot be any ordinary. Therefore it should be used wisely. Considering this, Brahma ji cut that bamboo and gave it to Vishwakarma ji. Vishwakarma made two divine bows from him, one of which was named Sarang, he dedicated it to Lord Vishnu and one named Pinak was dedicated to Shiva.
Shiva is called Pinaki because of wearing Pinaka bow. A single tinkling of the pinaka bow that Shiva was holding would cause the clouds to burst and the earth to tremble. It was as if there had been a severe earthquake. This extraordinary bow was extremely powerful. With this only one arrow, Lord Shankar destroyed the three cities of Tripurasur. After the end of the time of the gods and goddesses, this bow was handed over to the gods. The gods gave this bow to the ancestor of Maharaja Janak ji, Devarat.
Among the ancestors of Maharaja Janak was Nimi’s eldest son Devarat. That bow of Shiva was safe with Janak ji as his heritage. No one had the ability to lift this Shiva-bow. Once Goddess Sita ji lifted this bow, impressed by which Janak ji thought that this is not an ordinary girl. Therefore, whoever marries him should not be an ordinary man.
That is why Janak ji had organized Sita ji’s swayamvara and had placed the condition that whoever lifts this Shiva-bow and breaks it, Sita ji will marry him. In that meeting, Lord Rama broke the bow of Shiva and married Sita. When that hard bow of Shiva broke, Parashuram ji got angry after hearing its sound and came to Janak ji’s meeting because Lord Shankar is the adored deity of Parashuram ji.
The bow was brought by 5000 men
Seeing the shape of the Pinaka bow, it can be guessed that why no king could even move the bow? According to Ramayana, this bow was kept in a huge iron box. There were eight big wheels in this box. 5000 people had brought him by some way.