Week 3 Story: Kaikeyi and Rama

Kaikeyi was the sweet and naive princess of the Kekaya Kingdom. One day, while strolling in the Dandaya forest, she came across an injured warrior, and she immediately fell in love with him. While nursing him back to health, the warrior revealed himself as King Dasharatha, ruler of the powerful Ayodhya kingdom. Dasharatha, who fell in love with Kaikeyi, asked her to be his third wife, and offered to her two boons. Kaikeyi accepted his proposal and told him that she would use the boons at a later time.

Dasharatha wanted, more than anything else, a son. He prayed to the gods and they granted him with payasam, which he divided among his three wives - Kaushalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi. Later, the wives gave birth to four sons: Kaushalya bore Rama, the eldest and the most beautiful; Sumitra bore the twins Lakshmana and Satroughna, and Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata, the second oldest.

Kaikeyi loved her son, Bharata, but she found herself more in love with Rama, who was so sweet and tender as a baby. Rama, too, seemed to favor Kaikeyi even more than his own mother. The people of Ayodhya believed that Kaikeyi's and Rama's bond was stronger than any other bond between the queens and princes.

Kaikeyi and Rama

When the princes grew older, Dasharatha decided that it was time to crown Rama as the king. Upon hearing this, Kaikeyi was overjoyed! She loved Rama very dearly, and she was thrilled to see him sit upon the throne. But Manthara, Kaikeyi's wicked and disfigured maid, despised Rama. She hated his beauty and grace, and she wanted to see him cast away. Manthara was in fact, an evil witch with mystical powers, and she sought to convince Kaikeyi to prevent Rama from becoming king.

"Kaikeyi! You must not let Rama become king!" Manthara screamed.

"Why would you say such a thing! Rama would be an excellent ruler." Kaikeyi replied.

"No, you foolish woman! If Rama becomes king you will become a slave to Kaushalya! You must use the two boons from Dasharatha to crown Bharata king and banish Rama to the forest for 14 years!"

To this, Kaikeyi was shocked and was hesitant to believe such words. Manthara then used her mind manipulation powers to instill feelings of false jealousy in Kaikeyi. Under a trance and fueled by unfounded feelings of anger, Kaikeyi decided to use her two boons. She called for Dasharatha to come to her chambers.

When Dasharatha entered her room he was alarmed to see Kaikeyi distraught and lying on the floor. "Oh my sweet, favorite wife, Kaikeyi. Why are you lying on the ground? It pains me to see you in such a state! Tell me what is the matter!"

Kaikeyi then stated in a rather robotic tone: "Oh Dasharatha, you had granted me two boons when I saved you from dying in the Dandaka forest several years ago. I now wish to use them; crown my son Bharatha as king and banish Rama to the forest for 14 years."

Hearing this, Dasharatha was overcome with grief and anger. "You cruel, cold-hearted woman! I can't bear to see dear Rama be banished from Ayodhya! I must keep my word to you, but you ask so much of me!" finally, he reluctantly agreed to Kaikeyi's boons, as he was a man of his word. When Rama was called in to hear the news, he renounced the throne without hesitation, out of respect for both Dasharatha and his beloved stepmother Kaikeyi, and left for the forest with his wife, Sita, and brother Lakshmana.

Soon after Rama's departure, Dasharatha died from grief and left Kaikeyi in a numb and unfeeling state. When Bharatha returned from a neighboring kingdom to hear of what happened, he was fuming with anger towards his mother. "You witch! Your actions disgust me! I refuse to accept the throne!" he screamed at Kaikeyi.

Only after hearing these words from her own son did she finally snap back to reality and break from the spell cast on her by Manthara. Kaikeyi realized the foolishness of her actions and was brought to her knees in grief. "Oh Rama!" she cried. "What have I done! I was so foolish, and my actions caused the death of my husband, the bitterness of my own son toward me, and the exile of the pure and loving prince who I love more than anything in the world!" For the next 14 years, Kaikeyi remained in deep regret, longing for the day Rama returns to Ayodhya so that she can see him once more and beg for his forgiveness.

Author's note: This retelling of Ramayana is nearly the same as that of the actual story as told in the PDE Ramayan, but rather than painting Kaikeyi as evil and bitter toward Rama, I gave her more depth and showcased her in a more forgivable light. Oftentimes, readers tend to push all of the blame onto Kaikeyi for the banishment of Rama to the forest. In many sources, however, Kaikeyi is actually said to be extremely fond of Rama, even more so than her own son, Bharatha. Rama also loves Kaikeyi more than his own mother. When Rama leaves for the forest, Kaikeyi deeply regrets her actions and longs for Rama to return. But by then it's too late; Rama must fulfill the wish granted by his dying father Dasharatha as per Kaikeyi's request. I decided to direct the blame toward Manthara instead and portray her as the wicked witch who plants a seed of jealousy in Kaikeyi that leads to the string of misfortunes that follow Rama throughout the story. While Kaikeyi may have felt a little jealous of the other wives and sought power, I think it's important to recognize this special relationship between Kaikeyi and Rama and acknowledge the immense regret that Kaikeyi felt after sending her beloved stepson away.

Bibliography:

Hillary Adams, Storybook Project (The Mothers of the Epics), "Kaikeyi's story", Link.

Kaikeyi, Wikipedia page, Link.

M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder, PDE Ramayana, Link.