Kaikeyi Pushes Away the King's Hand
Ayodhya Kanda, Chhand 1
Doha 25 · Movement 2 of 3
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Dasharatha asks why the queen is angry and reaches toward her hand. Kaikeyi thrusts him away and fixes him with the gaze of an enraged serpent.
Behind her silence wait two desires, likened to tongue and fine teeth seeking the vulnerable place where life may be struck. The boons remain concealed, but their hunger already shapes every gesture.
Destiny has rendered the king unable to recognize the scene. What is deliberate strategy appears to him as a passing play of love. He mistakes the serpent's poised strike for familiar displeasure and therefore remains close enough for the words to find his heart.
The king sees a lover's game where destiny has already bared two hidden fangs.
Read the passage from the Manas
केहि हेतु रानि रिसानि परसत पानि पतिहि नेवारई। मानहुँ सरोष भुअंग भामिनि बिषम भाँति निहारई।। दोउ बासना रसना दसन बर मरम ठाहरु देखई। तुलसी नृपति भवतब्यता बस काम कौतुक लेखई।।
"For what reason is the queen so angry?" he asks, but when he reaches to touch her hand, she pushes him away. Like a furious serpent, the beautiful woman glares at him with a terrible gaze. Two desires, the tongue and the fine teeth, each seek the vital point, the vulnerable place. Tulsidas says: the king, helpless before destiny, regards this play of desire as a mere amusement.