Once Raja Janak meditated for years to please Lord Shiva. After constant and uninterrupted meditation, Lord Shiva finally appeared before him and allowed him to ask for a boon. 

King Janak asked Lord Shiva to grant him the boon to see the Great Lord as mentioned in the vedas. Lord Shiva readily accepted Janak’s demand and handed him a bow. He asked him to pay obeisance to it on a regular basis and told him that the Great Lord would meet him in the coming years.

One day, Sita, while playing with her friends, picked up the bow effortlessly. King Janak couldn’t believe what he saw and vowed that the man who would tie the string on the bow would be the one to marry his daughter, Sita.