Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Before this story was Rama’s, it was mine.” – Kaikeyi
The epic Ramayana remains unparalleled in its repute for being one of India’s favorite mythological story, retold and re-imagined countless times. With ‘Kaikeyi’, author Vaishnavi Patel makes a brave attempt at telling a fictional fantasy from the the legendary evil step-mother’s point of view, the one who sent Crown Prince Rama into exile by extracting a boon promised to her by King Dasharath, so that her own son could ascend the throne.
First off, this novel boasts a fantastic first few chapters; they really raise your hopes for an immersive fictional reimagining of Kaikeyi’s life, the OG “evil stepmother”: the woman who casts her stepson Rama, the beloved crown prince of Kosala, into a long exile so that her own son Bharatha can become the next king.
Divided in to four parts, the first part of this novel follows Kaikeyi’s childhood as the only daughter of King Ashvapati of Kekeya, raised by her maid Manthara, after her mother is inexplicably exiled. This part of the story is possibly the best slice of the tale, where author Vaishnavi introduces a fantastic magical device called the ‘binding plane’, which little Kaikeyi discovers while going through ancient scrolls: a mantra allows her to access a dimension where she can see invisible threads connecting people and the user invoking the mantra can manipulate these threads to get others to do their bidding, although the success rate varies.
Ignored by her father, abandoned by her mother, the princess’s only friend in the palace is her twin brother Yudhajit, but with his princely duties and lessons, he doesn’t have much time for her. With access to the binding plane, Kaikeyi is able to get closer to her brother, getting him to secretly train her in the ways of wars, including archery, and charioteering. We see the protagonist working hard to train herself and be more than just a royal consort to some king in the future.
The first few chapters are tightly knit, beautifully narrated, but funnily enough, my first problem with the novel arose at the mention of ‘tea’ in the story. Tea cultivation began in India only under the British rule, and it’s baffling how despite going through a multiple round of editors, nobody called out this error. Each time someone has tea in the novel, I would instantly feel disconnected from the tale. Maybe some readers won’t get this, but it’s just as bad/comical as some author in the future re-imagining Rama’s exile and writing about how Rama fetches some leaves from the forest so that Sita can brew some matcha latte for them.
Kaikeyi in this novel is redeemed as a beautiful, charming, intelligent warrior queen, a feminist, ambitious, but also also an impartial mother who loves all her five sons equally, never seeing them as step-sons.
But then comes the several mentions of ‘tea’, which wasn’t cultivated in the Indian region until the 1800, which wasn’t a long time ago. What next: some kid in the future is going to write about Rama fetching some leaves from the forest for Sita to brew some matcha latte?
And no, the constant tea-sipping wasn’t my primary problem, no matter how frustratingly inaccurate it was. My real gripe is with how the author tries to position Kaikeyi as the true unsung hero of the epic we know as the Ramayana: by completely reshaping Rama’s character and turning him into a manipulative little god. Also, the pace in general dips and things get trite in the second half.
And here’s the ironic part, Rama has never been my favourite character from the Ramayana. In fact, I will never accept his “my kingdom over my family” logic when he casts Sita away. A fair king, perhaps, but an unfair husband. But this version of Rama feels altered purely to elevate Kaikeyi, which really wasn’t necessary. Kaikeyi could have stood out on her own, without reducing Rama to such a mean-spirited portrayal.
Otherwise, some of the more entertaining threads in this re-imagined tale of Kaikeyi is her friendly relationship with her fellow Queens Kaushalya and Sumitra. The three of them are like hindered spirits, living in harmony like co-sisters, running a ground-breaking women’s council. But we mostly get this sense of sisterhood in fleeting observations made by Kaikeyi, there is no defining memorable moment to remember their bond.
Surprisingly, the author introduces Ravana very early on in the novel. He is shown to become friends of sorts with the Kosala queen and their bond was quite contrived throughout the length of the story.
Towards the end, I struggled to finish the novel, it became boring, the binding plane lost its novelty, and things hurtled to a convenient ending. The last few climactic pages were nice though.
Overall, this was an ‘okay’ read for me, although I guess it would appeal to a lot of international readers, especially those who aren’t familiar with Valmiki’s version.
Rating: 2 stars on 5.
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