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Hari Om.
Let us begin the ninth sarga of the ayOdhyakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The hunchbacked royal maid gives a twist to the story and insists with her queen kaikEyi to cancel the coronation of rAma and in his place to crown bharata as heir apparent. kaikEyi initially is not thrilled and sings the praise of rAma and his virtues. Then the crooked maid maid spews more poison and instigates the selfishness in kaikEyi by painting doomsday scenarios of her life ahead if rAma is crowned. Particularly she invokes the supremacy that kausalya will assume if rAma is crowned. And follows that up with the terrible life bharata and his wife will face being subservient to rAma. Will kaikEyi yield? Onwards…
The poison that the crooked maid spewed worked! kaikEyi flew into a rage at this prospect of her son leading a pauper’s life or altogether being eliminated. She toed the crooked line of her maid! Her face turned red in anger and sighing deeply she said – “today rAma shall be banished to the forests and bharata shall reign, this is certain, but, we must think of the means to achieve this”.
The hunchback was delighted at this turn of mind of her mistress. She was forthcoming with the plan she had hatched and amusingly said – “O kaikEyi, that’s great! Don’t you remember or are you feigning to not remember that episode, or perhaps you want to hear it from me! So be it, if you want to hear it from me, listen and ponder over”. kaikEyi got interested now and raising a bit from her couch, she asked manthara for a plan that would ensure bharata is crowned and not rAma by any means. Asked so by the queen, the evil manthara spoke her mind with in intent to harm the interest of rAma. She spoke thus –
“Once there was a war between the gods and the demons. To help the lord indra, your husband aided by the sages went south to fight a certain demon by name timidhwaja, also known as Sambara in the danDaka forests and you accompanied him. This demon Sambara was capable of assuming deceitful forms at will and apprehended enemies when they were fast asleep and wounded or killed them. King daSaratha fought valiantly in that battle to help the gods but was griveously injured. When he lost his senses in that battle, you wheeled him off to safety and yet another time when he was badly wounded your service brought him back to good health. Pleased with your life-saving gestures and service, he offered you two boons and you said that you would ask for those at an appropriate time. The king agreed to keep the boons in abeyance and grant them whenever you asked. I have no knowledge about this happening. But once you out of your affection for me took me into confidence and shared it with me. With great care I have retained it in my memory. O dEvi, the time has come to use those two boons now – let one boon be to crown bharata as the heir apparent and the second one be to banish rAma to forests for fourteen years. The fourteen years that rAma spends in the forests, bharata will rule ayOdhya and win the hearts of people.
So, O daughter of king aSwapathi, enter the chamber of wrath, lie down on the ground draped in soiled clothes and be sulking. Shed copious tears and neither look at daSaratha nor talk to him when he comes to you. It is beyond doubt that you are the darling of the king and for your sake, he might even enter into fire. The king, infatuated by you, is not capable of causing anger to you or seeing your sulking face. He can even shed his life to bring peace to you. He dare not transgress your words, O ignorant one, realize the power of your charms! He will offer you gold, jewels, gems etc. Do not fall for it. Be clear sighted of your goal! Do not yield for anything less. When the king, holds you by the arms and lifts you from the floor, make him settle down and ask for the two boons – let bharata be crowned and let rAma be sent off to the forest for fourteen years. Once rAma is exiled, being out of sight, he will no longer be remembered and cause delight to people, while your son bharata can grown strong and deep rooted in this time, winning over people’s hearts and thus stay as the king for the rest of his life. Rise to the occasion, O kaikEyi, ensure that you don’t allow the king to crown rAma”.
एवं प्रव्राजितश्चैव रामोऽरामो भविष्यति।
भरतश्च हतामित्रस्तव राजा भविष्यति।।2.9.33।।
[here maharshi uses the term rAma will become arAma…. rAma means one who causes delight, so arAma is the one who doesn’t cause delight! beautiful usage]
kaikEyi bought into this evil design of manthara thinking it to be highly beneficial and became happy with the plan. Although endowed with a sound mind and mature thought, kaikEyi was influenced by the evil plans of manthara much like an impressionable young girl and addressed manthara affectionately –
“O hunchback, I never really knew of your glowing intellect! In fact, you are best among the hunchbacks in this whole world. You are perhaps the only well wisher of me! Without you I would never divine the evil intentions of the king. Indeed there are ugly looking hunchbacks who are repulsive. But you are indeed beautiful like a lotus with its stalk bent by a waft of wind”! 🙂
kaikEyi is now seeing beauty in every part of manathara’s body from tip to toe and is flattering her with her eulogies showering superlatives on each part of her body and feels her countenance is pleasing like that of the moon! [beauty indeed lies in the eyes of the beholder!] She further said – “you walk in front of me clad in silks with the gait of a swan. You embody a thousand deceitful tricks in you, much like that demon of the yore, Sambara. Perhaps your hump is housing your cleverness, skill and magic! O manthara, hunchback, once rAma is exiled and bharata ascends the throne, I shall shower gold upon you – decorating this hump with a golden garland, making a golden shield for it, decorating your face with a golden tilak and I shall bejewel you with exclusive ornaments. Other well adorned hunchbacks shall attend upon you as you do one me”.
Thus kaikEyi flattered manthara immensely and showered eulogies on her scheming ability lying on her white bed and appearing like a menacing sacrifical fire in the altar. The hunchback manthara said, “O auspicious lady, there is no point building a bridge after the water has flown down, rise to the occasion and speak your mind to the king”.
गतोदके सेतुबन्धो न कल्याणि विधीयते।
उत्तिष्ठ कुरु कल्याणि राजानमनुदर्शय।।2.9.54।।
Thus brainwashed and influenced by manthara, the queen kaikEyi, entered the chamber of wrath along with manthara and casting off her expensive jewelry lay down on the ground promising to the hunchback that is her wish of rAma’s exile and bharata’s crowning doesn’t materialize she shall meet her end right there. She emphatically declared that she is interested neither in gold nor gems, but only in the crowning of bharata.
Sensing the determined mood of kaikEyi, manthara played on and emphasized to her – “remeber if rAma becomes the prince regent you are doomed and so will be your son. Hence, act now. Secure your interest”. Thus repeatedly assaulted by the sharp arrows of manthara’s evil designs, kaikEyi was completely brainwashed and was incensed at the king in her mind. But at the same time was amazed by the cunning cleverness and articulate nature of her hunchbacked royal maid and expressed the same to her in a myriad ways. She emphatically declared her lack of interest in gold, jewels and even in food or water if rAma is not exiled and bharata is not installed. She would rather die than seeing rAma installed the heir apparent. With such determination, she cast of her golden jewels and lay on the bare ground, much like a demi goddess fallen from grace.
Thus lying down on the ground without jewels and a face reddened with anger and dejection, the queen kaikEyi appeared like a dark sky bereft of stars!!!
Here we conclude the ninth sarga of the ayOdhya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Next: 2.10. Scheming queen and the unsuspecting emperor
Previous: 2.8. Hunchback’s slanderous onslaught
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 