Dasharatha Announces Ram's Coronation to Kaikeyi
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 27
Doha 27 · Movement 1 of 2
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Believing Kaikeyi restored, Dasharatha joyfully announces that her heart's desire has come true. Tomorrow Ram will be made Yuvaraja, and every house should prepare auspicious celebration.
The words strike Kaikeyi's hardened heart like pressure upon a ripe boil. She hides the pain behind laughter, turning her face and eyes aside while the king remains unable to perceive the deceit.
Even a master of statecraft cannot read the private ocean before him. Kaikeyi swells false affection and answers with a smile. The happiest message Dasharatha can offer becomes the final proof, in her altered vision, that Manthara's invented danger is real.
Dasharatha offers the crown as joy, and Kaikeyi receives it as pain she must hide behind a smile.
Read the passage from the Manas
पुनि कह राउ सुह्रद जियँ जानी। प्रेम पुलकि मृदु मंजुल बानी।। भामिनि भयउ तोर मनभावा। घर घर नगर अनंद बधावा।। रामहि देउँ कालि जुबराजू। सजहि सुलोचनि मंगल साजू।। दलकि उठेउ सुनि ह्रदउ कठोरू। जनु छुइ गयउ पाक बरतोरू।। ऐसिउ पीर बिहसि तेहि गोई। चोर नारि जिमि प्रगटि न रोई।। लखहिं न भूप कपट चतुराई। कोटि कुटिल मनि गुरू पढ़ाई।। जद्यपि नीति निपुन नरनाहू। नारिचरित जलनिधि अवगाहू।। कपट सनेहु बढ़ाइ बहोरी। बोली बिहसि नयन मुहु मोरी।।
Then the king spoke again, knowing her to be his heart's companion, his voice soft and lovely, trembling with love. O beautiful one, your heart's desire has come true. Let joy and celebration ring in every home across the city. Tomorrow I shall bestow the title of Yuvaraja upon Rama. O lovely-eyed one, prepare the auspicious adornments. Hearing this, her hardened heart flared up in anguish, as though someone had pressed a ripe boil. Yet even such pain she hid behind laughter, like a thief's wife who will not weep openly. The king could not perceive her cunning deceit, though she had been schooled by a crore of crooked minds. Though the king was accomplished in statecraft, the ways of a woman's heart are an unfathomable ocean. Swelling her false affection once more, she spoke with a smile, turning her face and eyes aside.