Sharanga

Sharanga is the bow of Vishnu, one of his five classic weapons. The name is usually explained as made of horn (from shringa), and the bow is described as unbreakable and brilliant.

It is less often shown than the discus or the mace, but it gives Vishnu and Krishna the names Sharngapani, the one with Sharanga in hand, and Sharngadhanva, the bearer of the bow.

Twin bows made by Vishwakarma

In the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana (sargas 75 and 76), Parashurama confronts the young Rama on the road home from Mithila, just after Rama has broken Shiva’s bow. Parashurama explains that the divine architect Vishwakarma once made two great bows. One was given to Shiva and the other to Vishnu. Shiva’s bow passed to King Janaka’s ancestors, and it is the bow Rama has just broken. Vishnu’s bow came down to Parashurama through his ancestor Richika. Parashurama hands it to Rama and challenges him to string it. Rama strings it effortlessly and fits an arrow, and Parashurama recognises him as Vishnu himself and withdraws.

Sharanga in the Mahabharata

Krishna, as Vishnu’s avatar, is also called Sharngadhanva, the bearer of Sharanga. The epithet appears again and again in hymns, including the closing verse of the Vishnu Sahasranama, which lists five weapons of Vishnu: the conch, the sword Nandaka, the discus, the bow Sharanga and the mace.

In art

The bow is rarely shown in standing images of four-armed Vishnu, whose hands are taken by the conch, discus, mace and lotus. It appears in eight-armed forms, in images of Vishnu riding Garuda into battle, and in depictions of Rama, who is almost always shown with a bow.