After Kaikeyi talks with Kooni, she finds herself having a panic attack about her future. She decides she is going to spend her night in the Kopa Gruha. The Kopa Gruha is a room where Kaikeyi goes when she has fallen into an ill mood. Kaikeyi knows that when the king learns about her whereabouts he will come looking for her. As she is alone in the Koba Gruha her mind begins to race about her future and what the best possible scenario is in order to correct it. She comes to the conclusion that she has no choice but to force the kings hand in crowning her own son in order to remain royal. As very common for a woman, she begins to act out the scenarios of how the King, Dasaratha, is going to take her plans for the crowning of Bharata instead of Rama. She begins by asking Dasaratha, "Why didn't you tell me your plans before you began making the arrangements? It would have been nice to hear of the ceremony from you instead of the people of the kingdom. I am the queen still after all, am I not?" Dasaratha replies with his apologizes but she doesn't care to hear them. She moves on to ask him, "What made Rama more worthy then my son? Am I not worthy enough?" Then she imagines his reply. "Rama is more fit for King. He went out into the woods with Visvamitra and destroyed God's. He will protect this kingdom. I trust him." In which she replies, "But my son has been with my father learning the traits of being a king. He possesses all the required qualities to rule a kingdom as well!" She imagines Dasaratha response, "Well I am more fond of Rama. He is my eldest son and he has made me very proud." With this Kaikeyi gets angry! She assumes Dasaratha is also more fond of his first wife, Kausalya, due to these comments. She then hisses, "Well remember when you promised me those two promises? I want to use them now!" With this Dasaratha will become irate she imagines. She knows he is going to know what she is up to. She continues, "I want you to exile that adored Rama, and make my son the king of Ayodhyra, so that I will remain in my rightful place at the top." With the thought of saying this greedy remark to Dasaratha, Kaikeyi begins to cry. "Exiled!," she whispered to herself. This greedy feeling that has overwhelmed her is against her character, but she is so fearful of her future. She sees herself slowly drifting out of wealth, and the kingdom praising Kausalya instead of her. She is frightened. She imagines it won't happen immediately, but she is scared of the long-term effect for her in crowning Rama instead Bharata. She has always been accustomed to being praised and being blessed with all the luxuries of the world. While being so obsessed with her well-being, she has forgotten how Dasaratha is going to react to her earth shattering news. She then imagines that Dasaratha will leave her, but reassures herself this won't matter once her son is king. He will be so overwhelmed with gratitude for her, he will make sure to take care of her as an effort to return her favor in making him the king. She never imagined that her request was going to kill Dasaratha. She even thought she was doing what was right for her son not just herself. However, even Bharata becomes appauled by her and shuns her because of her greedy behavior. Now she is going to end up worse then she could ever imagine because of her actions. After this drama, Kaikeyi became so exhausted with her emotions. She found herself limp laying on the floor, where Dasaratha finds her later that night. Furthermore, even though Kaikeyi thought she was helping her and her son, she was solely focused on her future. Greed can be a detrimental factor of any relationship. Always take a step back and analyze your actions to ensure you aren't only concerned about your own outcome.
(Kaikeyi laying on the floor in the Koba Gruha when Dasaratha finds her
photographed by Ravi Varma Press Kaikeyi in Koba Gruha)
Author's note: While reading what Kaikeyi did to Dasaratha and Rama, I couldn't help but think how this ugly amount of greed had overcame her. This emotion was so overwhelming, she forgot to step back and realize how she was affect others that she loves. Sometimes when something happens, we all need to stop only considering the outcomes on ourselves. From the stories about Rama's character. I know he would have made sure Kaikeyi was taken care of. She lost sight of what really matter, people.
Narayan, R. K., Two Promises, The Ramayana, (1972): 41-44. Print
We actually wrote about the exact same scene this week! I also was fascinated with Kaikeyi and her reaction to such a passionate and violent scene. You did a good job! I liked the content of this. I might recommend reading it out loud, there were just a few errors that I think could have been easily resolved if you had read it to yourself. :) The plot was excellent though, and I think you really captured what Kaikeyi was thinking and feeling in this moment. Good job!
ReplyDeleteYou really captured this dark moment within Kaikeyi’s story. She put all rationality aside because her fears and greed got the best of her. I like how you made that the main focus of the story, which is the major focal point of this passage within the Ramayana. I also liked how you ended with a moral, much like fable. Instead of poking around at Kaikeyi’s motivation, you make it very obvious that her greed was her downfall.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great take on Kaikeyi's perspective of the situation. When someone is accustomed to a certain way of life and something happens which then threatens to change it (or destroy it all together as Kaikeyi must think), then that person would go to extremes to ensure that their future is secure. One recommendation that I would make is to break it up into a few paragraphs. I think it would make the story flow more easily and will make it easier for the reader to follow the story.
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