Queen Mother

Note: The second of my attempts to interprete in my tiny way the characters from Hindu Mythology. The first http://aadityaandme.blogspot.com/2008/08/cursed-warrior.html won me the 'Blog of the day' for my blog.

She never thought she would see this day - for she had had a lonely childhood. Her mother the Queen was banished by the King and she was raised by a maid by the name Manthraa.

Today, she was a Queen herself - a Queen mother to four charming princes who were not all her sons but who all looked up to her as their mother.

She was Kaikeyi. One of King Dashrath's queens. She had raised the four princes along with the other queens - one of which was Kaushalya. 

When Ram had to be coronated as the king, Manthra came to Kaikeyi only to infuse in her the poison of vengeance. And just one ugly thought.

One ugly thought - of proving her superiority over Queen Kaushalya. One ugly thought - that estranged Ram from her. One ugly thought - that reminded her of her stepmotherhood to Ram. One ugly decision - to force King Dashrath to send Ram to exile and hand the throne over to her biological son Bharat.

Ram went away. Dashrath died in the sorrow. Her son Bharat was aghast at her decision and never called her his mother again. That one ugly thought was what she repented all her life.

Kaikeyi had a death as lonely as her childhood... She had come back a full cycle.

Kaikeyi became the villian of the story. Without her knowledge and choice.

She was destined to think wicked for a period of time so that the story could happen. So that Ram could be sent to the jungle with Sita and Lakshman. So that Ravan could be killed and the world be reaffirmed of the power of Good. So that the world could witness the Ramayan.

She was not the villian of the story. She was its creator.