June 15 - Sargas 35 and 36 of Ayodhya Kanda.
These two Kandas are a proof that people always had the courage to speak the truth in times of Ramayana. Sumantra, the minister, and another elder minister of Dasharatha, Siddhartha, openly rebuke Kaikeyi in the presence of hundreds and ask her to change her mind.
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Valmiki describes how Sumantra, , reading Dasharatha's mind, expressing extreme frustration, grinding his teeth, beating his head, mincing no words, shaking with anger, addressed Kaikeyi:
वाक्यवज्रैरनुपमैर्निर्भिन्दन्निव चाशुभैः ।
कैकेय्याः सर्वमर्माणि सुमन्त्रः प्रत्यभाषत ॥
नह्यकार्यतमं किञ्चित्तव देवीह विद्यते ।
पतिघ्नीं त्वामहं मन्ये कुलघ्नीमपि चान्ततः ॥
राजा भवतु ते पुत्रो भरतः शास्तु मेदिनीम् ।
वयं तत्र गमिष्यामो यत्र रामो गमिष्यति ॥
आभिजात्यं हि ते मन्ये यथा मातुस्तथैव च ।
न हि निम्बात् स्रवेत् क्षौद्रं लोके निगदितं वचः ॥
With unprecedented thunder-bolt-like words that should have pierced Kaikeyi's entrails , Sumantra spoke extremely harsh words to Kaikeyi:
"It seems, oh lady, nothing is too despicable or low a deed for you who are destroying your husband and eventually will destroy the entire Ikshwaku lineage.
"If you have your say, let Bharata, your son, become the king of this land, but it will be abandoned by all of us as we will follow Rama wherever he goes.
"I see clearly in you the same evil nature as that of your mother. It is indeed rightly said in the world that honey does not flow from a neem tree."
Valmiki makes Sumantra narrate how Kaikeyi's mother tormented her husband, by giving some specific examples. We have seen even before that Sumantra was no ordinary minister and charioteer. He was a most learned and astute man. Wasn't he the one who suggested to Dasharatha to perform the Yaga to beget sons?
Sumantra again succinctly lays out how it is the royal tradition for the eldest born to be the heir. And how Rama is the most worthy to be the Yuvaraja by all his accomplishments, character and people's support to have been rightly chosen to be anointed as the Yuvaraja.
All Sumantra's sagely, passionate and well-articulated words tear everyone's heart with their truth. But Kaikeyi?
Kaikeyi is actually totally unmoved by all this.
Dasharatha starts instructing Sumantra that in the event that Rama goes to the forest, all arrangements should be made at once for the army, the treasury, all kinds of housekeeping and entertainment facilities to be despatched with him so that he will be able to live in royal comfort even in the forest.
To this Kaikeyi speaks with great feeling of anger and protest. How dare the king convert his promise of banishing Rama to arrange a picnic of sorts for Rama? She will have none of it. Dasharatha dare not empty Ayodhya of all its wealth, resources and people for Bharata to rule an empty shell. Dasharatha has no answer for her.
Then Kaikeyi says something shocking. After all, is there not a precedent among kings of Dasharatha's lineage itself for a king to banish his son? Remember how Sagara the king sent away his first born son Asamanjas to the forest?
Then a senior minister by name Siddhartha speaks up. He narrates for Kaikeyi's benefit and for everyone else's too how Asamanjas turned out to be an extremely evil man who got pleasure in drowning babies in the Sarayu river. His actions were so atrocious that the entire citizenry rose up in arms and went to Sagara insisting that Sagara could not continue as the king of Ayodhya unless and until he banished his most unbalanced and evil son Asamanjas.
That is how Sagara sent away Asamanjas to the forest. How can Kaikeyi even begin to draw a parallel here to Rama's banishment that was being asked for by Kaikeyi against all Dharma, the well-being of Ayodhya, and the king's own sagely counsel from Vasishtha and others?
Dasharatha at last spoke:
एतद्वचो नेच्छसि पापारूपे हितं न जानासि मामात्मनोऽयथा ।
आस्थाय मार्गे कृपणं कुचेष्टा चेष्टा हि ते साधुपथादपेता ॥
"Oh evil Kaikeyi, don't you like this good advice? You seem not to know what is good for me or even for you. Otherwise how would you be so hell-bent on a course of rank evil and patently disastrous consequence for all of us?"
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॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
