The Ramayana Dashartha, King of Ayodhya, has three wives and four sons of which Rama is the eldest. Rama’s brothers are named Bharata, and the twins Lakshman and Shatrughna. Rama and Bharata are both blue skinned, perhaps indicating they were dark skinned or even originally south Indian deities. There is a sage that takes the boys out to train them in archery, and Rama proves his excellence by hitting an apple that was hanging on a string. In a neighboring city, the ruler’s daughter is named Sita. When it was time for Sita to choose her bridegroom, at a ceremony called a swayamvara, the princes were asked to string a giant