1. Kaikeyi is the third queen and favourite consort of King Dasharatha, who ruled Kosala from its capital, Ayodhya.
13 Facts About Kaikeyi
1. 2.
Out of Dasharatha's three wives, Kaikeyi exerts the most influence.
3.
Kaikeyi is born to King Ashvapati of Kekeya shortly before her mother was exiled.
4.
Kaikeyi was raised with her only mother figure being her hunchbacked nursemaid, Manthara.
5.
Kaikeyi is raised with seven brothers, including her twin, Yudhajit.
6.
Kaikeyi was delighted and as happy as she would have been had it been her own son during the coronation.
7.
However, Manthara, Kaikeyi's nurse, feared that Kaikeyi would lose her status as chief queen at court if Rama ascended the throne, as Kausalya would thus become queen mother.
8.
Kaikeyi demanded that Bharata be crowned king, and Rama be sent to the forest for a period of fourteen years.
9.
Kaikeyi further blamed her for his father's death and swore never to address her as "mother" again.
10.
Kaikeyi maintained strong relations with her maternal family even after her wedding to King Dasharatha.
11.
Kaikeyi helped her husband Dasharatha in the Dandaka forest while he was at war.
12.
Kaikeyi seemed almost naive when it came to understanding the rights of the four princes to Ayodhya's throne.
13.
Kaikeyi is the eponymous narrator of Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, a 2022 feminist retelling of the narrator's story.