Kaikeyi - Boon

Boon

Years passed and all three Queens produced sons. Rama, the son of Kausalya, was Dasaratha's favorite son. Rama was a loving, obedient child who followed his father's foot steps and revered Kaikeyi over his own mother, leading to the former's deep love and affection for him. When he turned 16 and was to be crowned King, Kaikeyi was delighted and as happy as she would have been had it been her own son, Bharata's, coronation. However, Manthara, worried that Kaikeyi would lose her status as Chief Queen at Court if Rama ascended the throne (making Kausalya the Queen Mother) decided to instigate trouble. She fueled Kaikeyi's dormant jealousy and envy of Kausalya, reminded her that her son's coronation would give Kausalya her former status as the most important of Dasaratha's Queens and would cut Bharata out of the royal lineage forever. Finally, Kaikeyi's ardent desire to retain superior status over Kausalya motivated her to demand the two boons granted to her years earlier by Dasaratha and to further remind him of his promise to Ashwapati that the son born of her (Kaikeyi's) womb should succeed Dasaratha as King of Kosala. In order to ensure that Rama would be no threat to her son, Kaikeyi further demanded the exile of Rama from Ayodhya for 14 long years, reasoning that this length of time would be enough for Bharata to consolidate his position as King of Kosala.

But Kaikeyī's desire never bore fruit. After sending his son into exile, a grief-striken Dasaratha died of a broken heart six days after Rama left Ayodhya. She came to blame herself for this death. Furthermore, Bharata swore never to ascend the throne as it was his older brother's birth right. He further blamed her for his father's death and is said never to have addressed her as "mother" again. Kaikeyi was said to have died a lonely and broken-hearted woman, estranged from her son, his wife (the cousin of Rama's wife, Sita) and their two sons, her only grandchildren.