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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 When we were about to pull the curtains down on Kaikeyi, Mr. Mahadevan Venkitaraman,
(mahadevanv@hotmail.com) a reader, has raised an important and valid point. I give below the questions raised by him.
“Even before Bharata gets to know whatever Kaikeyi had done, he seems to have a bad impression of Kaikeyi. As per Valmiki Ramayana, when he asks about the health of his three mothers, he describes Kausalya as saintly, Sumitra as wise and Kaikeyi as haughty. Does that mean he had a bad impression of his own mother for long and so he did not have much respect for her? If that were so, Kaikeyi also should have been aware of that. Can you please elaborate on this scene?
My own opinion is Bharata did not have much regards for Kaikeyi for long. To regain his respect she insisted on getting the crown for him and to remove the obstacle on that way, she was adamant to send Rama to the forest. (That was her idea of doing something for her son.)”
The questions fall under two major heads. The first one is ‘Is it a fact that Bharata had scant respect for Kaikeyi even before he came to know of what she did?’ The second one is that, ‘If yes, did Kaikeyi think of doing something good for her son, with the intention of winning his love?’ Yes, the answer to the first question is true. Bharata does not seem to have high regards for Kaikeyi. It may be recalled here that Bharata was sent to Kekaya soon after the marriage in Mithila and it was after a period of 12 years that the decision to enthrone Rama was taken. That is to say, Bharata had lived away from the family for a long period of 12 years now. At the time of marriage, Rama was 16 and Bharata, who was just one day younger to him, was also 16 at that time. The impressions that he had collected of Kaikeyi in his boyhood must have been haunting him.
 I quote the relevant portion from Valmiki that the reader has pointed out in his mail. This scene occurs when messengers from Ayodhya reach Kekaya to bring Bharata back. Here is what Bharata asks of his mothers. “And is the mother of the wise Sri Rama, the noble Kausalya, who is devoted to virtue, knows what is right and talks virtue, enjoying good health? Is my intermediate mother, Sumitra - who knows what is right and is the mother of Lakshmana and the valiant Satrughna - also free from ailment? Is my own mother, Kaikeyi, who always seeks to gain her own ends, is violent and given to wrath and accounts herself wise -
also healthy and what message has she sent (for me)?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Canto LXX, Sloka 8-10)
This portion of the drama is, however, absent in Kamban. Let us go according to the version of Valmiki and examine the questions of the reader in the light of what the Poet has shown us.
As we have mentioned in the very first instalment (See:
Kaikeyi), Kaikeyi was right from the beginning very aggressive character. That aggressive outer was a mere shell to cover the sense of insecurity that she had at heart. (See:
Insolent are really insecure and Insolent are really insecure
II).
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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