Ramayana
Chapter 24
The Choice Unknown
After the departure of the mysterious messenger, Kaikeyi started spending hours in solitude to reflect upon the portents of his visit. She began to see the shape of the things hidden inside the contours of the speedy events that had been taking place since the day Vishvamitra had arrived unannounced in the conference hall of king Dashratha. Vishvamitra had fulfilled his mission and returned to his hermitage, but he had only played his part in the larger processes of history evolving slowly. He was a visionary who knew the truth from the distant far-away vantage point in future. His mission was to initiate the forces that needed to be awakened if the future was to evolve in the right direction for Ayodhya and all the neighboring states stretching right up to the state of Kaikeya—her father’s kingdom. Vishvamitra had given Rama a foreknowledge of the nature of the threat posed to Ayodhya and all the states in the north lying under the shadow of the great Himalayan ranges. The threat could emerge from the dark forests stretching to the south and ending at the sea in the south. The kings and the princes of small kingdoms had displayed their ineptitude and ignorance from the way they had rallied together to subdue Janaka over the question of the marriage of his daughter Seeta. The signs of the imminent chaos could be seen in the sudden appearance of sage Parashurama on the scene immediately after Rama’s marriage to Seeta. Rama was emerging in the forefront of the vortex of the historical-political turmoil and it was the demand of the times that he must be brought to the center of the vortex. There was no other way and the sages knew it. That was why even Vasishtha had given a tacit consent to Vishvamitra’s maneuvering. The truth began to unfold slowly before her eyes. What lay hidden in the folds of the future was something that was not yet clear to her. Where was it leading to? Did it lead in the direction of chaos, status quo, or the evolution of a new order?
What intrigued her most was the burden of responsibility that the messenger had cast upon her. Her mind was spinning in all directions, especially when she saw the wave of happiness that had surged all around and engulfed the entire kingdom of Ayodhya at that moment. She had no part to play in their celebration, but the immensity of the fateful implication of the choice that lay before her was surrounding her on all sides and the resentment that she should feel at her ostracized state in the palace was insignificant now.
Things had reached a feverish pitch as the excitement of the sacred rituals and the ceremonies brought on almost a delirium of joy among the women of the royal household. Manthara was flitting in and out of her mistress’s room in anger and frustration as she watched the ceremonies of welcome to the new princesses. Gradually a fit of panic seized her as she saw Kaikeyi being driven into isolation and as she reflected on Kaikeyi’s withdrawal from the scenes of excitement she was filled with an increasing sense of insecurity. She tried to probe deeper into Kaikeyi’s silence but there was an unusual coldness in Kaikeyi’s demeanor which Manthara saw as a dangerous sign of admission of defeat.
Possessing a foresight and vision is not a happy gift when you are surrounded by a pack of an ignorant crowd who are blissfully free of the burden of choice that is to decide their fate. At no other time in her life had Kaikeyi felt so forsaken and alone as she felt now.
