The Four Weddings of Mithila

The bow had broken and the hall had not yet gone quiet.

Janaka declared that the condition was fulfilled. But Vishvamitra raised a hand and stopped them all.

"Let word go to Ayodhya first," he said. "A marriage joins two families and two kingdoms. It cannot be completed as though only one test mattered."

Janaka agreed. Messengers left for the north that same day.

In Ayodhya, Dasharatha heard the news. He consulted Vashishtha and his ministers, and then the whole journey was prepared — Bharat, Shatrughna, relatives, teachers, gifts, and an escort.

At Mithila the fathers and sons met again. Ram touched his father's feet. Dasharatha looked at him for a long moment, as though measuring how much the boy who had walked away on foot had changed.

Before the weddings, both families recited their lines.

Vashishtha stood and named the generations of the Ikshvaku house, one after another. Then Janaka's family told the history of Nimi and the rulers of Videha.

This was not a list of famous names. What was being said was being said in front of everyone — so that the relationship was public, and nobody could claim afterwards that they had not known.

Then Janaka made his proposal.

Sita would marry Ram. His younger daughter Urmila would marry Lakshman. Janaka's brother Kushadhvaja had two daughters, Mandavi and Shrutakirti; they would be joined with Bharat and Shatrughna.

All four weddings would be held together.

Mithila filled with preparation. Gifts were given, guests were honoured, the required ceremonies were completed.

At the appointed hour the fire was lit.

Janaka placed Sita's hand in Ram's and asked the two of them to walk through life together in dharma. Then Urmila and Lakshman, Mandavi and Bharat, Shrutakirti and Shatrughna — one after another.

Fire, blessings, music, flowers. The city stayed awake late into the night.

After the rites the four couples began preparing to travel home with their families.

Ram's journey had begun as a task of guarding a hermitage. It had brought him now to a partner and to a new web of relationships, whose joys and duties would shape everything that came after.