Manthara

Manthara

Many years earlier, Queen Kaikeyi had adopted a hunchbacked, orphaned child she met in her maternal uncle’s house. Her name was Manthara, and she was given the task of looking after the queen’s private rooms. Despite the sometimes harsh and often envious nature of her housekeeper, Kaikeyi had grown fond of her. That day Manthara saw the characteristic ferment of festive occasions and imagined that something important was about to happen. People were particularly happy and laughed and joked in the streets even for trivial reasons. She wondered what was about to happen. At a time when she was with Kaikeyi, she asked him.

“I see everyone is getting ready for a big event, but I still don’t know what’s going to be held. My dear queen, do you know what it will be?”

Kaikeyi looked at her with a kind expression.

“But how come you don’t know anything? Today is a day of great joy for us. Dasaratha is about to proclaim Rama crown prince. Soon the beloved Rama will become the king of Mithila.”

Hearing this, Manthara frowned and pursed her lips in violent rage.

“That Rama will be crowned crown prince?” She almost shouted. And should I be happy? But how can you feel happy on such a terrible day for you? It should be the opposite; you have many reasons to be unhappy.”

Kaikeyi thought she was joking.

“But Manthara,” she told Kaiyeyi trying to play down, “it’s such a beautiful day, why on earth should I be unhappy?”

Manthara, clumsy in her deformity, looked really angry and the queen soon realized she wasn’t joking.

“Such a beautiful day? But what do you think will happen to you and your son Bharata the day the king leaves the body? Think. This is the day of your defeat. When Rama is crowned you will be sure that you can never be the mother of a king, and no one will ever show you respect.”

Kaikeyi still didn’t take her housekeeper’s words very seriously.

“But you know well,” she replied, “that Rama was born before Bharata and therefore, according to custom, he is the heir by right. Also, I don’t think anyone will ever disrespect me. Rama is a noble and caring young man and has always loved me in the same way as he loved his own mother.”

Manthara turned red in the face, now gesticulating.

“No, in the future this will no longer be the case. Rama will treat you like a servant and will try to kill Bharata because he knows that a valiant younger brother is a constant danger. This is the politics of power, it has always happened like this. And then, after killing your son, he will kick you out of the court and will exile you.”

Kaikeyi did not believe that Rama could ever behave in such an atrocious way, but Manthara was so persistent and brought up so many arguments that the queen was finally convinced. She thought that she should do something for her own good and for Bharata’s. The thought of her son sitting on Ayodhya’s prestigious throne had sparked a strange fervor in her.

“Yes, it’s true. We must prevent the coronation of Rama. I want to see my son on the throne. But what can we do? Rama has the birthright. I don’t see a solution.”

Manthara, at those words, winced in triumph.

“Should I remind you of what happened long ago? You told me yourself. Remember when you accompanied your husband to that battle where the Devas fought against the Asuras? Remember that the king was wounded and you saved his life by driving the chariot off the battlefield? Then the king promised you to fulfill two of your wishes, whatever they were. You had no particular wishes at the time, but he insisted, so you said:

“Now I do not ask you anything for me, but in the future I may have some wishes to satisfy: promise me that at any time I ask for them you will grant them to me.”

“Dasaratha promised it, and you have never asked him for anything so far. Kaikeyi, this is the moment. Ask the king two things: that he exile Rama in the forest for fourteen years and that he appoint Bharata as crown prince.”

The queen was troubled by that thought. She hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure if that was the right thing. But Manthara’s ambition and insistence prevailed and she yielded to the diabolical plan.

What was happening in Manthara’s heart? And in Kaikeyi’s virtuous heart? Of course, ambition is a bad advisor when not controlled. Bharata himself, even in his grief, recognized that Manthara and Kaikeyi were only the instruments of an inscrutable divine will.

Manthara advised Kaikeyi by saying: 

“Go straight to the room where you lock yourself in when you have trouble and scatter your jewels on the ground. When Dasaratha comes looking for you he must find you there, and you will see that he will ask you the reason for your affliction. Then tell him what you want from him. Go quickly, the king might arrive.”

Kaikeyi went into the rage room and lay down on the floor, feigning desperation.

Shortly thereafter Dasaratha went to visit his wife. He had just finished giving instructions for the upcoming ceremony, his heart was full of joy and he wanted to share it with her. He went into his private rooms, but strangely he didn’t find it. He looked everywhere for her, but he couldn’t get hold of her.

Then, Dasaratha asked the maids if they knew where the queen had gone, and he was informed that she was in the room of anger.

The good king was surprised. Why had his favorite wife come into that room? What happened? Kaikeyi had always had everything she wanted, she lacked nothing at all. What was making her unhappy? Dasaratha hurried to the room and found her there, lying on the ground, with the jewels scattered everywhere, her face dark with pain. Dasaratha was surprised.

“My dear wife, what are you doing in this room and why are you lying on the floor? What causes your sorrow? You know I’d be willing to do anything to make you happy. Tell me what happened.”

With a voice broken by tears she said:

“Remember when I saved your life? On that day you promised me to grant me two wishes.”

Dasaratha smiled.

“Of course I remember. I have always kept my promises, and I will surely do so with you now too. If you have any wishes, ask, and I will satisfy you immediately.”

“Yes, now I have two wishes to ask you,” she replied. “But I want you to tell me again first that you are ready to do anything for me.”

The king replied in an affable tone.

“My dear Kaikeyi, I am ready for anything to see you happy.”

Hearing these words Kaikeyi strengthened and hardened his heart. It wasn’t easy for her, because Kaikeyi was a sweet and loving woman.

“I want you to send Rama into exile in the forest for fourteen years and to appoint Bharata heir to the throne in his place.”

The king could not believe what he had heard, or maybe he didn’t want to believe it. «Maybe she was joking», he thought. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Kaikeyi had always loved Rama and Rama had always been affectionate with Kaikeyi. So why did she have to hate him so much? At the moment, Dasaratha could not say anything.

“Kaikeyi, what are you saying?” he finally gasped. “I cannot exile Rama. What happened to you? Why are you asking me such a thing?”

The queen reacted vehemently.

“You made a promise. The first moral rules of a king are truthfulness and honesty. I ask you to exile Rama and appoint Bharata as crown prince.”

She said it almost shouting, with rage, with fury, almost with hate. She was no longer the same sweet Kaikeyi; she was someone else. Who was that?

 How to convince her that she was asking for an absurd thing? Seeing him astonished and unable to react and accept the reality, Kaikeyi repeated the request several times. And when the poor monarch realized that his wife meant it, the pain made him lose consciousness. Then he recovered and patiently tried to dissuade her from her cruel purpose, but it didn’t help. Kaikeyi was determined. Those were his wishes.

All night Dasaratha tried to persuade his wife, but the sun peering out from behind the horizon found Dasaratha in despair. Seeing that her husband did not have the courage to do this, Kaikeyi called a handmaid and instructed her to summon Rama and bring him to her apartments, telling him that his father wanted to see him.

When the handmaid relayed the message to him, Rama was a little surprised by that call at such an unusual time, but he immediately went out and hurried to his father.

He entered Kaikeyi’s room and immediately realized that something serious had happened. Dasaratha was shocked, his eyes circled and red from crying. He stared at the floor: he did not have the courage to look into his son’s eyes, so similar to the petals of the lotus flower. Kaikeyi had a strange look of cruel triumph in his eyes. But the whole atmosphere was strange, unusual. Rama was surprised and displeased by his father’s obvious pain.

“I see you very sad,” he told him. “What is happening? What are the reasons that make you suffer so much? In your kingdom everything is fine and the people love you and respect you. What’s wrong?”

Dasaratha could not speak, he kept his eyes down and had a terrified expression, as if he saw in that marble monstrous images that threatened him with who knows what dangers. His heart was filled with pain. Without any mercy Kaikeyi revealed everything to Rama. But to her surprise, the prince did not flinch, and rather smiled as if nothing had happened.

“My dear father,” he said softly, “don’t grieve for me. I accept the exile with the same joy with which I would have accepted the coronation. Do not worry. I will spend these fourteen years in the forest in the company of saints and ascetics and will enrich myself with their spiritual knowledge. I will also protect them from evil beings and thus render them a valuable service. And when these years have passed, I’ll come back to you, even if I can’t be the king. Know that I have no attachment to the joys of this world, which disappear faster than they come and are only a cause of anxiety. I’m happy all the same, father, don’t worry about me.”

Dasaratha knew his son wel; he expected that reaction, and his kindness saddened him even more. Perhaps he would have preferred Rama to react violently, or to have killed him by being deprived of his right. Dasaratha wondered if he could live without his favorite son.

With a smile, Rama left the room. When he saw him go away, Dasaratha fainted. He would have liked to rebel against his cruel wife, he would have liked to run to Rama and tell him that he was even giving up his honor, his word, in order not to part with him, but he didn’t feel like it. He knew that Rama himself would not approve of such behavior. A kshatriya should never break his word, at any price; these were the injunctions of the Vedas, and a king was to set the example of obedience. If he hadn’t behaved like this, no one would have followed the laws anymore and everything would have plunged into chaos. He was not supposed to be the cause of the suffering of so many innocent people; better to suffer alone.

 

Post view 174 times