Kaikeyi and her Two Boons

Posted by Harsh Nevatia Apr 12, 2008

Next to Ravana, Kaikeyi is presented as the most evil character in the Ramayana. She sent her stepson to exile and was responsible for her husband’s death. Since then parents have not named their daughter Kaikeyi.

I cannot accept that Kaikeyi was inherently evil. God used her as an instrument in His mission. Before Rama vanquished Ravana he had to exaggerate the differences between power, greed, arrogance and meekness, selflessness and humility. To do so he could not attack Lanka as the king of Ayodhya but had to do so as a simple human being. Therefore the drama of being exiled and cut off from Ayodhya was crucial to his plan. And he made Kaikeyi an unwitting partner.

Yet her behavior is out of character. Even in God’s Lila the niceties of realism have to be observed. Kaikeyi was a strong willed woman. She loved Rama more than she loved Bharat. So how could she so easily succumb to the wiles of Manthara? This question has not ceased to vex me. The only explanation I could provide was that God induced a temporary weakness in her so that He could execute His plan.

Then I read Ashok Banker’s series on the Ramayana. He has introduced events and characters not present in the popular version of the narrative. But he has resolved the issue of Kaikeyi’s character beautifully. Manthara is an agent of Ravana and versed in the dark arts. She drugs Kaikeyi to keep her in her room and transforms a slave to the splitting image of the queen. Then the slave, looking like Kaikeyi, acts out the events of that fateful night. Kaikeyi remains true to her character and her honor is maintained. This of course is Banker’s invention but how I hope this had been the truth.