Kaikeyi Mistakes Her Enemy for a Friend
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 16
Doha 16 · Movement 2 of 2
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Sweetness covers the hidden deceit in Manthara's words. Kaikeyi hears the performance of loyalty and begins to trust the one working against her peace.
Her understanding grows shallow beneath the illusion set in motion by the gods. The enemy is received as friend because fear has learned to speak in the accents of concern.
The turning does not occur through new evidence. It occurs through a change in the queen's way of seeing. Once trust is detached from truth and attached to anxiety, affection itself can be recruited against the beloved. The palace remains unchanged around her, but an inner gate has opened.
When fear borrows the voice of friendship, Kaikeyi opens the heart's gate to her own undoing.
Read the passage from the Manas
गूढ़ कपट प्रिय बचन सुनि तीय अधरबुधि रानि। सुरमाया बस बैरिनिहि सुह्द जानि पतिआनि।।16।।
Hearing words of hidden deceit wrapped in sweetness, the queen, shallow of understanding, took her enemy for a friend and placed her trust in her, overpowered by the illusion of the gods.