Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi, also rendered Keikeyi, is a queen of the ancient Indian kingdom of Ayodhya in the Ramayana. She is one of King Dasharatha’s three wives and the mother of Bharata. She is described as the daughter of King Kekaya of the Kekaya kingdom.

According to the Ramayana, Kaikeyi’s fortunes change when her aide Manthara inflames her fears that Rama’s rise to the throne would diminish Kaikeyi’s status. Dasharatha had once promised her two boons, and Kaikeyi invokes them to demand Rama’s exile for fourteen years and Bharata’s installation as king of Ayodhya. Dasharatha, bound by his vow, agrees, and Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana depart for the forest. The king dies of heartbreak soon after.

Bharata returns to Ayodhya, refuses the throne, and places Rama’s sandals on the throne as a symbol of his brother’s rule. Kaikeyi remains in Ayodhya, and her decision becomes a focal point of later moral and political discussions within the epic. In some tellings, she is portrayed as a victim of Manthara’s manipulation; in others she is depicted as acting with ambition or prudence in a dangerous political struggle.

Kaikeyi’s character and actions have been examined across many versions of the Ramayana, including regional retellings such as Kamban’s Tamil Ramayana and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas. She remains a controversial figure, often cited in discussions of power, loyalty, and fate within the Ramayana narrative. Her legacy is tied to the central conflict of the epic: the exile of Rama and the subsequent restoration of dharma.