9.11. The character of Kaikeyī

Kaikeyī is the queen of Ayodhyā and wife of king Daśaratha and mother of Bharata. Mantharā, Kaikeyī’s maid-servant from her father’s house who since her birth had stayed together with her, ascended the palace and saw the whole all Ayodhyā filled with a spirit of festivity. When king Daśaratha entered Kaikeyī’s apartment to tell her the pleasant news and saw his youthful wife, who was more precious to him than his own life, lying on the ground, he was tormented with grief and asked her what had happened to her. Then she says that she wants to make Bharata the king of Ayodhyā and asks him to send Rāma to forest. Kaikeyī was very intelligent. Hearing the news of Rāma’s coronation she makes the plan.^[1] Kaikeyī’s such words hurt Daśaratha. And when Daśaratha at last succumbs, helplessly meaning that he is bound by the fetters of dharma, that his senses are paralysed and he expresses his wish to see once more his dear son, Kaikeyī herself directs Sumantra to fetch Rāma. The charioteer first hesitates but afterwards sees the sad condition of Daśaratha. Daśaratha is unable to utter any word out of grief.^[2]

Kaikeyī’s role in the entire Rāma story is very significant. The negative traits of her character indirectly help in giving a new and brighter dimension to Rama’s character both in the epic and the Hanumannāṭaka