Ram by Devdutt Pattanaik

Author:Devdutt Pattanaik [Pattanaik, Devdutt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143424604
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2017-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Kaikeyi’s maid, Manthara, was furious when she learnt that Ram was to be crowned king, and that too when Bharata was away at his maternal uncle’s home. Had Kaikeyi’s father not given Kaikeyi’s hand in marriage only after Dashratha assured him that her son would follow him to the throne? Incensed, she strode into Kaikeyi’s chambers only to find the queen celebrating the news of Ram’s coronation. ‘He is like my own son,’ Kaikeyi said. Manthara beat her chest, banged her head against the wall and spat out all the venom in her heart. At the end of her tirade, Kaikeyi was convinced that her husband had wronged her. When her husband would depart to the forest, she, the palace favourite, and her son would be at the mercies of Ram and his mother. Having finally made her mistress see her way, Manthara advised Kaikeyi on how she could remedy the situation.

Manthara symbolizes the dark side of kama or desire and how it breeds unhappiness, suspicion and anxiety. She casts aspersions on Dashratha’s integrity: why was the coronation taking place while Bharata was away at his maternal uncle’s house? Given this, Kaikeyi’s first boon, that Bharata should be made king in place of Ram, seems fair, even appropriate. It ensures that Dashratha does not go back on his promise to Kaikeyi’s father.

But why did Kaikeyi have to ask for the second boon, insisting that Ram go to the forest? The simplest answer given is that Kaikeyi did not want any rivals to the throne around when her son was crowned king. But then why was the exile given for a finite period of time? Why only fourteen years? Why not forever?

The purpose is revealed in Ramopakhyan, the tale of Ram narrated by Rishi Markandeya to the Pandavas in the epic Mahabharata.

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