Janaka

“The story begins with Janaka…”

“Father, how did you get Pinaka?” the young princess Sita asked. She was nine, bright, and bubbly as ever. Her dark hair was pulled back out of her face. Janaka could see her large, brown eyes staring back up at him with intrigue and curiosity.

“Why don’t you ask Pinaka yourself?” Janaka asked, swooping up Sita into his arms. She giggled and slapped back playfully in protest.

“I don’t actually know the answer, my king,” Pinaka said from the corner of the room. It flew forward at the mention of its name and settled near the velvet armchair which Janaka and Sita were sitting in. Sita squirmed free and propped herself up on the arm of the chair.

“You don’t remember?”

“I do not. I know that I was a gift from Shiva, but he’s not much for giving clear explanations.”

“Oh, Father! Tell us the story!” Sita interjected.

“Yeah, tell us the story!” Pinaka added in support of the princess. Janaka found it funny how Pinaka had managed to bond with his daughter. Sure, it was his bow, but Pinaka and Sita were similar in more ways than Janaka could count. They were both playful and adventurous. Sita was nine years old. Her traits were a manifestation of that fact. Pinaka was much like a child in that respect as well. Janaka never doubted its prowess as a divine weapon, there simply was nothing else in Ayodhya like it, but its personality was… interesting. It wasn’t a bad thing... It just wasn’t something Janaka would have expected to have come from Lord Shiva. Their personalities did seem to be at odds—perhaps Pinaka was better suited here with them.

Janaka sighed lightly. “Of course, of course, but only this once.” He grinned at his daughter who was known for asking him to repeat stories over and over. He acted like it bothered him, but it really didn’t.

“Well, you know Pinaka was a gift from Shiva,” Janaka began. “He made this bow for the perfect king, someone who could string Pinaka. I’ve only ever heard stories of it myself, but Lord Shiva is said to have spoken to Shakti, or nature, and formed the ideal bow.”

“Pinaka?” Sita asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, right. I remember Shiva mentioning something about hunger. What’s that about?” Pinaka inquired.

"You were there and you don't remember?" Sita asked, tilting her head.

"Most people don't remember being born. It's like that. I can't be expected to remember everything," Pinaka said.

“Anyway," Janaka interrupted, steering the conversation back to something more productive. "Shiva, all powerful that he is, had managed to end all of hunger. Shakti knew that there was importance in hunger. As people, we need it to feel alive. For if we didn’t have hunger, what would separate us from the dead? Hunger is something that only the living can experience, so she knew we needed it. Shakti spoke of tapasya and yagna to Shiva. Tapasya and yagna are like opposites, light and dark. You can't have one without the other. Together, they decided this would balance the world. Pinaka is the result of that balance, a symbol that all life must be united in this way.”

“It’s funny how Shiva knows no hunger, but Shakti is the goddess of food. I guess I should say Annapurna is the goddess of food, who is also Shakti. I think it's so cool how all of the gods and goddesses have so many different names and forms. Don't you?” Pinaka asked.

“Of course," Janaka began. " Though I’m surprised you know that, but I’d expect nothing less of a divine weapon.”

"She's technically my mother... kind of. Maybe creator would be a better word, but I do know some things!"

“I think I understand,” Sita said, ignoring the other two, with a wide, toothy grin. “Because there’s two parts, is that why there’s two sections on Pinaka?”

“The shaft represents tapasya and the string represents yagna. Good work, little one! Shiva and Shakti made Pinaka with the knowledge that it would represent give and take in the world.”

“So, why’d he give me to you?” Pinaka asked jokingly.

Janaka laughed. “Am I not the perfect king? No, I’m sure he has other plans for someone stronger than myself down the road.”

“Stronger than you? No way!” Sita exclaimed. The three spent the remainder of the day sharing stories and enjoying each other’s company. Janaka had little doubt that someone stronger than him would come along one day. All he could hope was that this person was kind and virtuous.

Based on Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik

Header: King Janaka's Palace Entrance (Source)

Author’s Note: Pinaka flies, hovers, and can hop when I want it to, which won’t be again lol. Please don’t take the movement too seriously. It’s a talking bow! It really isn’t that deep. It’s also very, very heavy and could push open a door with no handles, easy! I’m not going to comment on that further because I’m addressing that next story! My source talks about Pinaka’s origin, so I thought I would play with that some. I thought it would be fun to expand on Janaka and Sita’s father-daughter relationship, so that’s where I went with this. I could not find a singular, solid definition of yagna and tapasya. There are many traditional definitions, for example sacrifice and discipline. My source describes them but in a poetic sense, so I did my best at interpreting it. If needed, I can expand on that further, but they're basically just opposites for the sake of this story. I’m going to stick to third person, limited because I like it. This is how the story will progress from here, but you haven’t seen the last of Shiva. My purpose with this project was to enlighten everyone about divine weapons, but now that I’ve talked about Shiva so much, I think that’s also a focus too? I don’t know! Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Until next time!