Sharanga

Sharanga (Devanagari: शारंग) is the celestial bow of the Hindu god Vishnu. In South India, Sharanga is also called as Kodanda. Vishnu's avatar Rama is often praised as Kodandapani, the holder of the Kodanda.

Kodanda or Sharanga
Rama depicted as a four-armed Vishnu with a bow
Service history
Used by	Vishnu Parasurama Rama Krishna Lakshmi
Production history
Designer	Vishvakarma

The bow was crafted by Viswakarma, the Cosmic architect and maker of weapons, along with the Pinaka, the bow of Shiva. Once, the god Brahma wanted to know who was a better archer, Vishnu or Shiva. Brahma created a quarrel between the two, which led to a terrible duel. The impact of their fight was such that the balance of the entire universe was disturbed. Vishnu won the duel and rendered Pinaka immovable just by uttering 'hum'. Shiva gave his Pinaka bow to a king, who was an ancestor of King Janaka and Vishnu too decided to do the same, and gave his bow to the Sage Richika. In time, Sharanga came into the possession of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu and Richika's grandson.

Rama obtained the Saranga bow from Parashurama and then gave the bow to the god Varuna. Varuna gifted the Saranga again to Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu who used it against his fight with the different asura kings like Banasura, Narakasura. Satyabhama, the wife of Krishna and avatar of goddess Lakshmi, fought Asura king Narakasura with the Saranga bow and defeated him.

In poems written by Bhadrachala Ramadasu, the poet used words like Kodandapani to refer to Rama. Even Mirabai referred to Krishna as Kodandadhari.