In the epic of Ramayana we read the story of Raama who had to leave his royal household to live a life in the forest for fourteen years. This happened due to a promise his step-mother was granted by his father. Her name was Kaiyekeyi, the second wife to his father king Dasaratha. This is her story.
Kaiyekeyi was born as the princess of Kekaya Kingdom, west of Shindhu river somewhere in modern day Afghanistan. Her father was Ashwapati. She grew up amongst seven brothers and had a twin brother called Yudhyajeet. She was trained warrior, strategist and strong as her brothers. She grew without maternal influence as her mother was sent away by the king due to poor conduct. She was taken care by her nurse, Manthaara.
Kaiyekeyi was born as the princess of Kekaya Kingdom, west of Shindhu river somewhere in modern day Afghanistan. Her father was Ashwapati. She grew up amongst seven brothers and had a twin brother called Yudhyajeet. She was trained warrior, strategist and strong as her brothers. She grew without maternal influence as her mother was sent away by the king due to poor conduct. She was taken care by her nurse, Manthaara.
Dasaratha, the King of Kosaala, was a powerful and righteous
king. He had no children from his first wife, Kaushalyaa. He married Kaiyekeyi
after a promise to his long term ally, king Ashwapati, to make their first born
son the King of Kosaala. He made this promise as he was childless. Manthaara
was old women by now, with a hunch in posture and she accompanied the bride Kaiyekeyi
as a trusted maid to Ajodhya. His second wife also could not bear any children
and Dasaratha married third time to the princes of Kaashi, Sumeetra, but she
too remained child less.
Manthaara, maid of Kaiyekeyi, schemed constantly to further
up her position at the women household. Her position depended on her master’s
status at the court. She fed young queen with insecurity and jealousy.
Dasaratha had equal love for all his wives, and Kaiyekeyi was manipulated to
eventually become his favourite wife.
Kaiyekeyi was successful in convincing her husband to take her
along in the war with Sambarasura, as his charioteer. During the battle, Dasaratha
was pierced by an arrow and his chariot wheel broke. Kaiyekeyi using her
bravado, repaired the chariot and brought the king out to safety. She nursed
the king back to good health. Happy with her service and courage, the king gave
her two boons. She did not ask for any and delayed the promise for an
appropriate time later. She eventually became the favourite queen.
Dasaratha had one regret that he had no son to inherit him.
He performed aswamedha yaaga under
sage Rishyasringa. From the flames came
out a deva who was pleased and had a
bowl of payaasaam that was to be
consumed by the queens as a divine drink to bear children. The drink was
distributed amongst the three queens. Kaushalyaa had half. Sumeetra had half of
the remaining. Kaiyekeyi had half of what remained and the left over was again
consumed by Sumeetra again. In due course Raama was born the eldest to
Kaushalyaa, Bharatha was born to Kaiyekeyi, Laakshmana and Satrughana were born
to Sumeetra.
Raama was the eldest and the favourite of all three
queens. Laakshmana was like his image. Similarly, Bharatha and Satrughana were
inseparable. Eventually Raama married Seetha in a swayamvar, the daughter of king Janaka. Twelve years after Raama’s
marriage, Dasaratha wanted to anoint Raama as his successor. The date of his
crowning as yuvaraja was fixed. The
court was decorated and rishi’s prepared
for the raja abhishekam. Bharatha
were out on vacation to Kekaya with Satrughana, but Dasaratha did not want to
wait for their return as the anointed auspicious hours were on the next day.
The royal household was busy in preparation for the celebrations and all the
three queens were happy.
Manthaara could not fathom why Kaiyekeyi was so happy. She
saw that with this coronation, Kaiyekeyi will lose her position as the chief
queen. She fuelled Kaiyekeyi’s mind with jealousy and envy for queen Kaushalyaa,
stating that Bharatha will be out of the lineage forever and that there was a sinister
plan to hurry up the coronation in absence of her son. She reminded her of the
promise made by Dasaratha to her father about anointing their son as his successor.
She convinced Keiyekeyi that the time was ripe to remind the king of the two
boons he has promised her. Manthaara was able to mobilize Kaiyekeyi. She asked the
king to crown her son Bharatha as the yuvaraja
and banish Raama to a 14 years of forest life vanvaas. King Dasaratha was obliged, he fell ill and could not
recover. Raama as a dutiful son, took on himself to fulfil his father’s promise
than take over the reins. When he announced this decision to Seetha, she
decided to join him as a partner and Laakshmana as a dutiful brother who cannot
be separated from his brother. They shunned all royal signage, removed their royal
clothing, wore bark and animal skins to begin their life of forest. The whole
of Ajodhya was mourning. King Dasaratha died of grief six days later.
When Bharatha returned to Ajodhya, and heard what happened
he was filled with anger and remorse. He swore never to ascend the throne, that
rightfully belongs to Raama through birth right and propriety. He blamed Kaiyekeyi for his father’s death. He
swore never to address her as mother again. He went to Chitrakoota forest with
his minsters and queen mothers, and tried to convince Raama to reconsider the
decision and rule Kosala. When Raama said that his desire is to fulfil his father’s
promise, Bharatha wanted to change role and complete the fourteen years of
forest dwelling himself. Guru Vashishtha found a way out and let Raama’s paduka be placed on the throne at Ajodhya
as his symbol of rule, and Bharath is the caretaker administrator till his
return. Bharatha stayed in Nandeegrama, administered with help of ministers and
did his penance.
Ram was victorious in the war with Raavana. He did ask
Seetha to prove her purity and chastity by the test of fire. This worried the
Gods, as Raama had forgotten his true identity of divine and was becoming too
human like – possessive and jealous. Brahmaa asked Dasaratha to visit Raama. Dasaratha
agreed and Raama was happy to see. Dasaratha said that he had pondered for
long over Kaiyekeyi’s betrayal for long and could let it go now, that the forest
dwelling time was over. Raama asked his father to forgive Kaiyekeyi and Bharatha.
Raama returned to Ajodhya. Kaiyekeyi repented sending her
favourite son away for fourteen years and cause the death of her husband
Dasaratha. Bharatha never ascended the throne. Raama touched her feet, took her
blessings and said that she need not ask for forgiveness as he had no ill
feelings. He asked Bharatha to forgive and accept her. Kaiyekeyi was thus
liberated and when she died ascended to heaven to be with Dasaratha.
People do not name their daughters as Kaiyekeyi, that is the curse she carried.
Disclaimer: This re-telling of the story of Kaiyekeyi is a
median from various narrations and sources that included verbal narrations,
published books and digital contents. Kaiyekeyi and Surpanakha are two
characters that are pivotal to the Raamayana story, one led to the banishment
of Raama, Laakshmana and Seetha to the forest, and the later caused the
episodes of Seetha’s abduction and subsequent destruction of Raavana.