A Lovely Indian Woman in Traditional Garb
And so my beautiful
mistress and new handsome master lived together for some time, in great
prosperity. He was a powerful man, of a kingdom called Ayodhya
that had known little trouble, and his people loved him and my mistress
a great deal. There came a time, in the spring, when Dasaratha
wished to go hunting. My lady loved to hunt and so gladly went
with him, wishing to use her skills with a bow once more.
They traveled into the forest and met with Guha, the Hunter King, who allowed them the run of his wood and a camp not far from his house. It was a beautiful setting, delightful in the soft spring. We were sitting beneath a gorgeous blooming tree, when Dasaratha began to laugh.
"Majesty," Kaikeyi asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Dasaratha responded, "It would not be funny in translation." It seems he had been talking to those detestable beasts again, a language he had picked up from the old bird Jatayu, and a rather annoying skill he liked to use when on long road trips.
Kaikeyi replied, "You can tell me. If you love me, what secrets are between us?"
I could tell she was playing with him, but that idiot Sumantra took her seriously.
"The king cannot. If he reveals even half a word he will die. That is the agreement, the price of his friend Jatayu the Vulture King, who rules Dandaka forest and who taught him this speech," Sumantra asserted.
Kaikeyi said no more for a while and I could tell she was thinking over the events that had just taken place. The king and queen went to their tent for the night, and this, my friends, is where I can offer a bit of an insight, for Kaikeyi never removes me from her silken neck. Kaikeyi begged and begged him to teach her the language of the animals, to share with her his special skill, regardless of the consequences. The king was absolutely taken aback that she would be this rash, this unthinking, this unsympathetic to this threat upon his very life. Finally, he submitted.
Now, my friends, let me take a moment to tell you how my mistress's mind works. Kaikeyi did not wish for sweet husband to die so that she might inherit the language of the animals. Not at all. Kaikeyi's heart is first and foremost that of a warrior, my friends. Cunning and cold, but swift and sure, her husband must be a warrior too. Kaikeyi's heart and mind were appalled at Dasaratha's fear of death. No king, no warrior, no man can lead his people if he is consumed by a fear of death. And so my mistress sought to test him, to make him face his own death in order to make him stronger.
Not only this, but Kaikeyi realized the favoritism she received over the other queens. She knew that his heart grew fonder and fonder of her each day and that he was consumed by the thought of her. He obsessed about her. She could not stand this, being a self-sufficient, independent warrior princess, and therefore, she sought to dismantle this impulse to spoil her. She did not want him to grant her every desire - not only for his benefit, but for her own. If she became a full-bellied, thoughtless courtesan , my lady would surely suffer and hate herself.
Because of these reasons, and no others, my lady tested Dasaratha.
The next morning, Dasaratha emerged from the tent, dressed in white, and walked slowly and dejectedly toward the funeral pyre he had demanded to be built. My lady watched him the entire time, a slight smile on her delicate face, for she knew that he would overcome this test - that he would face his own death and his obsessive love - and refuse her. And so it happened, with the aid of a couple of barn animals that could not keep there mouth shut and were mocking him, claiming that he was being ordered around by his own wife - not a man at all, but a mouse. In any case, my lord refused and my mistress was elated. He had passed the test.
Bibliography: Buck, William (1976) Ramayana. The Uttara Kanda.
Author's Note: In this story, I related the tale told by Guha to Rama about his father in an effort to prove that Dasaratha was not a foolish man. I continued my quest to provide the reader with an alternate view of Kaikeyi that does not banish her to being an evil entity within the Ramayana. In this scene, her necklace is present for Kaikeyi's request to learn how to speak with the animals, as Dasaratha had learned to do. However, instead of portraying her as an unfeeling, spoiled nag, I chose instead to relay the feeling that she sees her husband as somewhat of a wimp - that he will do anything at her beck and call and that, perhaps more importantly, he fears death. As the necklace states, a good king and especially a good warrior, cannot fear death, and I think this would have been the foremost thought on a woman like Kaikeyi's mind. I portray her as being annoyed and even repulsed at his meekness and I interpret the unseen night in the tent as a test that Kaikeyi creates for her husband. He must not only face inevitable death, but he must also finally refuse her. As a warrior, Kaikeyi would have one great fear of her own - to become a softened, useless bride. The test shown in my story is a means for Kaikeyi to avoid this terrible fate.
Back to the Coverpage...
They traveled into the forest and met with Guha, the Hunter King, who allowed them the run of his wood and a camp not far from his house. It was a beautiful setting, delightful in the soft spring. We were sitting beneath a gorgeous blooming tree, when Dasaratha began to laugh.
"Majesty," Kaikeyi asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Dasaratha responded, "It would not be funny in translation." It seems he had been talking to those detestable beasts again, a language he had picked up from the old bird Jatayu, and a rather annoying skill he liked to use when on long road trips.
Kaikeyi replied, "You can tell me. If you love me, what secrets are between us?"
I could tell she was playing with him, but that idiot Sumantra took her seriously.
"The king cannot. If he reveals even half a word he will die. That is the agreement, the price of his friend Jatayu the Vulture King, who rules Dandaka forest and who taught him this speech," Sumantra asserted.
Kaikeyi said no more for a while and I could tell she was thinking over the events that had just taken place. The king and queen went to their tent for the night, and this, my friends, is where I can offer a bit of an insight, for Kaikeyi never removes me from her silken neck. Kaikeyi begged and begged him to teach her the language of the animals, to share with her his special skill, regardless of the consequences. The king was absolutely taken aback that she would be this rash, this unthinking, this unsympathetic to this threat upon his very life. Finally, he submitted.
Now, my friends, let me take a moment to tell you how my mistress's mind works. Kaikeyi did not wish for sweet husband to die so that she might inherit the language of the animals. Not at all. Kaikeyi's heart is first and foremost that of a warrior, my friends. Cunning and cold, but swift and sure, her husband must be a warrior too. Kaikeyi's heart and mind were appalled at Dasaratha's fear of death. No king, no warrior, no man can lead his people if he is consumed by a fear of death. And so my mistress sought to test him, to make him face his own death in order to make him stronger.
Not only this, but Kaikeyi realized the favoritism she received over the other queens. She knew that his heart grew fonder and fonder of her each day and that he was consumed by the thought of her. He obsessed about her. She could not stand this, being a self-sufficient, independent warrior princess, and therefore, she sought to dismantle this impulse to spoil her. She did not want him to grant her every desire - not only for his benefit, but for her own. If she became a full-bellied, thoughtless courtesan , my lady would surely suffer and hate herself.
Because of these reasons, and no others, my lady tested Dasaratha.
The next morning, Dasaratha emerged from the tent, dressed in white, and walked slowly and dejectedly toward the funeral pyre he had demanded to be built. My lady watched him the entire time, a slight smile on her delicate face, for she knew that he would overcome this test - that he would face his own death and his obsessive love - and refuse her. And so it happened, with the aid of a couple of barn animals that could not keep there mouth shut and were mocking him, claiming that he was being ordered around by his own wife - not a man at all, but a mouse. In any case, my lord refused and my mistress was elated. He had passed the test.
Bibliography: Buck, William (1976) Ramayana. The Uttara Kanda.
Author's Note: In this story, I related the tale told by Guha to Rama about his father in an effort to prove that Dasaratha was not a foolish man. I continued my quest to provide the reader with an alternate view of Kaikeyi that does not banish her to being an evil entity within the Ramayana. In this scene, her necklace is present for Kaikeyi's request to learn how to speak with the animals, as Dasaratha had learned to do. However, instead of portraying her as an unfeeling, spoiled nag, I chose instead to relay the feeling that she sees her husband as somewhat of a wimp - that he will do anything at her beck and call and that, perhaps more importantly, he fears death. As the necklace states, a good king and especially a good warrior, cannot fear death, and I think this would have been the foremost thought on a woman like Kaikeyi's mind. I portray her as being annoyed and even repulsed at his meekness and I interpret the unseen night in the tent as a test that Kaikeyi creates for her husband. He must not only face inevitable death, but he must also finally refuse her. As a warrior, Kaikeyi would have one great fear of her own - to become a softened, useless bride. The test shown in my story is a means for Kaikeyi to avoid this terrible fate.
Back to the Coverpage...