Kaikeyi Demands the Crown for Bharata and Exile for Ram
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 29
Doha 29 · Movement 1 of 2
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Kaikeyi names the first boon: let Bharata receive the royal consecration. With folded hands she asks the second: let Ram wear ascetic dress and live detached in the forest for fourteen years.
The gentle delivery strikes Dasharatha like catastrophe. He becomes silent as a quail seized by a hawk, pale as a palm tree struck by lightning, hand upon forehead and eyes closed.
His wish fulfilling tree had flowered and was about to bear fruit when the demand uprooted it like a she elephant. Sorrow seems to take a body and torment him. Within one sentence, the promised coronation becomes Ayodhya's foundation of calamity.
Two softly spoken boons tear the crown from Ram and the living ground from beneath Dasharatha.
Read the passage from the Manas
सुनहु प्रानप्रिय भावत जी का। देहु एक बर भरतहि टीका।। मागउँ दूसर बर कर जोरी। पुरवहु नाथ मनोरथ मोरी।। तापस बेष बिसेषि उदासी। चौदह बरिस रामु बनबासी।। सुनि मृदु बचन भूप हियँ सोकू। ससि कर छुअत बिकल जिमि कोकू।। गयउ सहमि नहिं कछु कहि आवा। जनु सचान बन झपटेउ लावा।। बिबरन भयउ निपट नरपालू। दामिनि हनेउ मनहुँ तरु तालू।। माथे हाथ मूदि दोउ लोचन। तनु धरि सोचु लाग जनु सोचन।। मोर मनोरथु सुरतरु फूला। फरत करिनि जिमि हतेउ समूला।। अवध उजारि कीन्हि कैकेईं। दीन्हसि अचल बिपति कै नेईं।।
Listen, O beloved of my life, to what delights my heart. Grant one boon: give the royal consecration to Bharata. With folded hands I ask for a second boon. Fulfill this cherished wish of mine, O lord. Clad in the garb of an ascetic, wholly detached from the world, let Rama dwell in the forest for fourteen years. Hearing these gentle words, the king's heart filled with grief, like a chakravaka bird that trembles at the touch of moonlight. He was struck dumb and could not speak a word, like a quail seized by a hawk in the forest. The king grew utterly pale and colorless, as though lightning had struck a palm tree. He placed his hand upon his forehead and closed both eyes. It was as if sorrow had taken a body and begun to torment him. My heart's desire had blossomed like a divine wish-fulfilling tree, but just as it was about to bear fruit, a she-elephant has uprooted it entirely. Kaikeyi has laid waste to Ayodhya and established an unshakable foundation of calamity.