Ram might have been indifferent to all that jubilation going about him. Yet, preparations for the elaborate ceremony of his anointment were in full swing under the keen eye of Muni Vashisht. Herbs, fruits and decorative leaves were piled up. Fly-whisks, deer-skins, woollens and silk robes of a mind-boggling variety, jewels and numerous other objects of use in such ceremonies were kept ready. The capital was tastefully decorated with colourful flags and buntings. All the streets and thoroughfares of the town were sprinkled with scented water. Horses and elephants were adorned with splendid gear. Learning of Ram’s likely ascent to the throne, the commoners in Ayodhya rejoiced with beating of drums and dancing in gay abandon.
Ram himself carried the news to mothers Kaushalya and Sumitra. He told Sita and Lakshman as well. Bharat and Shatrughan were away, enjoying the hospitality of their maternal grandfather, the raja of Kaikeya. Distance meant that they would know in time. The one important person in Ayodhya unaware of the hectic goings-on was Rani Kaikeyi, Raja Dashrath’s favourite wife and Prince Bharat’s mother. She too, when she got the news belatedly, was happy for Ram’s sake – that is, until Manthra, her maid, swayed her mind.
But what had poor Manthra to do with succession to the Ayodhya throne?
Under the dispensation of Ishwar – the Lord Supreme – it seems, there is a hierarchy of beings that inhabit the cosmos. On the top are divine beings, then us humans, then beasts, and so on. The divinities such as devas control our course of life irrespective of the pain or pleasure that may come our way. And why not? Don’t we subject the beasts and birds to our will the way we can? In plain words, we mortals are all under the whip of a superior will, called Destiny. The Ramayan is essentially a rhapsody on the workings of Destiny.
Back to the story: the devas got perturbed on the possibility of Prince Ram becoming the ruler of the Awadh without having fulfilled his destiny. Was not he a Vishnu-avatar? Didn’t Lord Vishnu promise that He would be born a man to rid the Earth of rakshasas? Who would kill their arch-enemy Ravan if the Vishnu-incarnate Ram were to be allowed to spend the best part of his life ruling over some place called Awadh? The devas approached Goddess Sarasvati, the deity controlling intellect and intelligence, to do something about it. Ma Sarasvati agreed, though reluctantly.
The deity worked through Manthra, an agent who was pliable and effective as well. An elderly maid attached to Rani Kaikeyi, Manthra was doubly handicapped. She was dumb-witted, as her name indicated (‘Manthra’ in Sanskrit means ‘stupid’, ‘crooked’ etcetera) and she was a hunchback. Seeing the gaiety all around her, she enquired what the cause of the festivities was. That was how she learnt of Ram’s preferment over Bharat, the son of her mistress. Was it her single-minded devotion to Rani Kaikeyi or Ma Sarasvati’s manipulation of her mind that made Manthra incite the queen to adopt the fateful course? Sant Tulsidas would have us believe that the latter was the case –
Namu Manthra mandmati cheri kaaikeyi keri/
Ajas petari tahi kari gayi gira mati pheri//
Kaikeyi had a slow-witted maid by the name of Manthra; Sarasvati made her the receptacle of ill-fame by tempering with her intellect and (then she) was gone.
– Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhyakand, doha 12
Initially, Manthra did not seem to succeed with Rani Kaikeyi. Befitting an old and trusted servant, she began by reproaching her mistress for languishing in comfort while a dismal future awaited her. The raja, having sent away Prince Bharat to Kaikeya, was going to handover the throne to Ram the following day itself.
Rani Kaikeyi’s immediate response to her was joyful. She even offered a choice reward to her for bringing her the happy news – “Ram tilaku jaun sanchehun kali/de-aun magu man bhavat aali//” – If Ram is really going to be anointed tomorrow, then, O, my friend! ask me anything your heart desires, I shall give it to you!” Professing her maternal affection for Ram, Kaikeyi asked Manthra why the latter was so upset on hearing of his anointment. Manthra persisted in bringing Kaikeyi down to her level, nonetheless. “Your son is in a foreign land,” she said bitterly, “and you are happily lolling in your plush couch. You can’t see the raja’s cunning!”
Kaikeyi lost her temper. “Shut up, you sower of discard in the family; or else I shall have your tongue pulled out!” She sniped at her.
Eventually, confounded by Devi Sarasvati as she was, Manthra was able to inveigle Kaikeyi to force Raja Dashrath forego his decision to instal Ram on his throne. Ram, she advised Kaikeyi, should rather be banished to forests and in his place Bharat declared the future ruler of Ayodhya. The trump card that she played was to arouse Kaikeyi’s suspicion of her co-wife and Ram’s mother, Kaushalya. “Raja adores you,” she insinuated, “and Kaushalya, your co-wife, can’t stomach it. That is why she has exercised her influence over the raja to have Ram ascend to the throne when Bharat is away.”
Kaikeyi was by now totally swayed by Manthra’s reasoning. Her problem was how to persuade her husband to change his mind so drastically. She turned to her maid-turned-counsellor for advice. Manthra was quick to remind her of the two boons Raja Dashrath had promised her early in their married life. She should ask the raja to grant those boons to her – one for Ram’s banishment and the other for Bharat’s ascent to the throne. Not content with that, Manthra went on to provide her ‘user’s instructions’. Kaikeyi, she advised, should retreat to the ‘Kop Bhavan’ and pretend to be terribly angry with her husband, till he agreed to her demands. Manthra’s counsel to Kaikeyi, as we know, was too effective, with far-reaching consequences which the susceptible queen could not have foreseen.
What did Manthra get for turning the tables? A severe beating at the hands of Shatrughan and disrepute for eternity – that is all she got for her troubles. Sant Tulsidas puts these words of remorse in her mouth for meddling in the affairs of the royals –
Kari kurup bidhi parbas kinha/bavaa so lunie lahie jo dinha//
Kau nrip hou hamhi ka hani/cheri chhadi ab hob ki rani//
Creator, giving me ugly looks, has made me dependent. (I can’t blame others,) I reap what I sowed; what I gave, so do I receive. Whoever be the king, what loss would that be to the likes of me? I won’t be a queen, leaving behind (my role of a) servant.
– Ibid, 15(iii)
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