This week, we’ll pick up where we left off in the Ramayana. We’ll see a Nanny who executes a very House of Cards-style political move. We’ll also see a father conflicted between his love for his wife and his love for his son.
The character this week is an elephant that manages to survive a crocodile attack, thanks to some divine intervention.
So far on the Ramayana, we’ve met King Dasharath, his three wives and four sons.
The sons are all avatars of Vishnu, and primarily amongst them is the eldest, Ram after whom the Ramayana is named.
Ram is a skillful warrior and as part of his internship with the Rishi Vishwamitra takes care of a pest problem. Vishwamitra takes him and Lakshman on a study tour, which ends up with the two princes married to a couple of princesses!
I recommend checking out previous episodes 6, 7, 15, 16, and in particular episode 24. I’ve linked all these in the show notes.
We begin at the palace where the 4 princes were all grown up and married. Right about then, Bharath was at his mother’s kingdom on a holiday.
Dasharath was still in charge of running the Kingdom. But he was now getting old. He looked back at his time as ruler and yup – he’d checked all the pre-retirement boxes.
One kingdom well ruled – check
People who paid their taxes but were still happy – check
Vishwamitra was now a powerful rishi friend – check
3 wives who could support him well – check
4 sons now, all avatars of Vishnu – check
So the next stage in his life could begin. All he had to do now was to hand over the reins of the kingdom to the most capable of his sons.
Now that retirement was definitely the path forward, the choice of successor was a no-brainer. It had to be Ram, the eldest of his sons.
He consulted with his council and yeah, they agreed unanimously.
All four princes were equally capable but Ram was more equal than the rest, to borrow a phrase.
Now, a father making a decision about his children would normally consult with the mothers, but this was a very patriarchal society. So he made the decision and let his wives know. All three of his wives were of course thrilled. Ram was the perfect son, to all three of them. He always treated them all with immense respect and love.
Well, except Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi was initially thrilled as well, but that soon changed when she had a conversation with Manthra. Now, you might recall that Dasharath owed Kaikeyi a couple of things. See Episode 24 – Promises Made, Hearts Broken.
Yes, Kaikeyi was happy when she heard the news from her ex-Nanny Manthara. Manthara was a very old woman – she’d been Bharat’s nanny, just as she’d been Kaikeyi’s.
As was the custom, Kaikeyi gifted a necklace to the messenger. Manthara was an old lady and had no use for a necklace. She could have just sold it.
But she threw it away in anger. Now, if you’re a servant of the Queen, you normally don’t throw aside an expensive gift like that – unless you pretty much raised the Queen from when she was a baby.
Kaikeyi was surprised and not offended.
“What’s so wrong, Manthara?” She asked
Manthara told her. Making Ram the next King when Bharath was away? This was just a prelude to exiling or even killing Bharath.
“No way, Ram would never do that to his brother” responded Kaikeyi quickly.
“Maybe not Ram, but what about Kausalya? She’ll be the Queen mother”
Kaikeyi did hesitate this time. Yes, the rules stated that the Queen-mother had more power than the other Queens.
Manthara even reminded her of the Sukhu and Dukhu story from Episode 26 – Joy and Sorrow where the favorite wife and her daughter were quick to evict the other residents of the household.
Manthara persisted and Kaikeyi seemed to be giving in.
“But what can I do about it?” asked Kaikeyi
Manthara replied slowly – “you really need me to solve every problem for you, don’t you? Dasharath made two unconditional promises to you – surely you haven’t forgotten those?”
That was enough. Kaikeyi immediately requested Dasharath’s presence in her rooms in a way that amounted to a summons. Dasharath was agitated to learn that Kaikeyi was cashing in her two IOUs. She wanted Bharath to be made King, and for Ram to be exiled for 14 years.
In ancient India, life expectancy wasn’t great, so the teenage Ram would be pretty much old by the time he returned. If he returned at all. At least, that was what Kaikeyi was thinking.
Dasharath was devastated. But Kaikeyi was not ready to even listen to him.
Even the fact that the coronation party invites were already sent out with Ram’s name on it and all the balloons and the big “Congratulations Ram” cake and the table settings.
This was like trying to do a last-minute substitution at the altar when the wedding was already well underway.
Asking one of his boys to be King was easy, but how could he possibly ask his other boy to leave the palace and to go into exile?
But Kaikeyi was not willing to budge. She had the IOUs from Dasharath and the legal department found no loopholes. Dasharath was going to have to give in.
He called Ram over and sobbed the whole story out. Ram handled it really well.
“If it’s fourteen years, I’d better get started right away” he said. “The sooner I begin, the sooner I’ll be back”
He addressed Kaikeyi “You know, mum? You could have just ordered me to go. I would have gone”. You might think it was a parting shot to make Kaikeyi think she’d wasted one of the IOUs. But that was not Ram’s intention. He meant it. He really would have followed Kaikeyi’s orders.
Laxman, Ram’s brother and his companion on his previous internship with Vishwamitra decided he would go too. They were a team, and you can’t just break up a team!
Sita, Ram’s new wife, wanted to go along too. She’d sworn to be with her husband in sickness and in health. She wasn’t about to back out of what was essentially a 14-year long camping trip
As much as he wanted them to hang back in comfort, Ram couldn’t refuse his brother or his wife. To tell the truth, it would be a bit boring without anyone else.
As they left the palace, they were clad in simple clothes, not royal ones. They didn’t want to attract the attention of highwaymen, including perhaps former colleagues of the author Valmiki.
The people of the Kingdom had made a decision. Ram was going to be their King, whether Kaikeyi or Dasharath or Ram himself wanted it or not. They would follow Ram, Laxman, and Sita into exile. This touched Ram’s heart but he had to point out the obvious. Ayodhya was a people, not a place. Ram couldn’t be in exile if Ayodhya joined him everywhere he went.
The people understood when he explained this. They could relate. They had watched Thor: Ragnarok where Thor comes to a similar realization.
With a heavy heart, they decided to wait. 14 years was long, but not terribly long. They would endure it. It wouldn’t be bad. Ram told them to treat King Bharath just the way they had expected to treat Ram. If Ram trusted Bharath, that was good enough for them.
They hung back as the brothers and Sita headed out of the kingdom.
Meanwhile, speedy messengers had been dispatched to fetch Bharath back.
Kaikeyi was on cloud 9. She had in effect bent the whole kingdom to her will.
Kausalya was sad, but she had confidence in her son. He had packed some mosquito repellant and a few cans of food – he would manage for a few days at least.
Dasharath was bedridden now. In grief, he cried for his son. Just the way Shravan’s parents in Episode 24 had said he would.
Ram, Laxman, and Sita left the Kingdom on foot and wandered through one forest after another.
We’ll end it here, but they will go on to have all kinds of adventures, meet all kinds of creatures, make all kinds of friends and some enemies. That’s what the rest of the Ramayana is going to be about.
Notes
Kaikeyi is often vilified for her role in banishing Ram. But very little focus is on Dasharath who made some rather rash promises.
Dasharath in trying to protect Ram seems like the opposite of another king we’ve encountered on this podcast – Yayati from “Episode 28 – His Girl Friday” who had no hesitation in grabbing his son’s youth from him.
The Character of the Week
The character this week is an elephant that manages to survive a crocodile attack, thanks to some divine intervention.
Once upon a time, there was an elephant King Gajendra. I know Elephants are a matriarchal society and there isn’t really a King, but this was a bit of an exception.
Gajendra along with his herd lived on Mount Trikuta or the mountain with three peaks.
One day as he was bathing in the lake, a crocodile grabbed his leg. Gajendra tried to free himself, but as most people know Crocodiles have incredible bite force and they don’t let go.
When the herd realized he was done for, they walked away, thinking they couldn’t help him. Curiously none of the other elephants thought to try stepping on the crocodile.
Gajendra was in pain and trumpeted until he was hoarse. But the crocodile was definitely not letting go. Gajendra then prayed to Vishnu, holding in his trunk a lotus that he had the presence of mind to pluck from the lake.
That changed everything. Vishnu arrived at the scene and swiftly decapitated the crocodile.
That’s all for this week.
Next Week
Next week we’re back with Vikram and Betaal. We’ll see why, when you are the King, you should be careful whom you delegate a task to. They might do exactly the opposite of what you intend.
The character next week is a prince. Who is also a star in our night sky. It’s the pole star!
I’ll see you next week!