Week 6: Reading A, Ramayana

 Ramayana: Reading A

I had never even heard of the Ramayana before this week. Some of the passages were difficult to understand, but one story reminded me a lot of the Jewish story of Esther and of the story of the death of John the Baptist in the New Testament. Both stories involve a king making promises to grant wishes to a woman who uses them for a political purpose. 

The nurse convinces Kaikeyi of her plot.
https://alchetron.com/Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi's Plot:

-an old, ugly nurse hates Rama (the king's son and heir, basically) and she convinces the youngest of the king's three wives (Kaikeyi) that her own son, Baharata, should be the heir instead 

- at some point the king had promised Kaikeyi that she could have two wishes granted, for anything she wanted

- Kaikeyi demands the king name Baharata as the heir and then also banish Rama for 14 years

- the king is very distraught but has to grant her wishes

- even though he grants the wishes, he rejects Kaikeyi and her son forever

This story sets up the next section - Rama's exile - but I thought it was interesting on its own. The stories of Esther, Herodius (requesting the death of John the Baptist), and Kaikeyi differ greatly in terms of motivation and outcome. Esther is trying to save the Jews from genocide. Herodius is just trying to get revenge. And Kaikeyi is motivated by jealousy. But the whole concept of a king having to keep his promises to women and the women using the promises to make political moves, is an interesting one because in a way, that rare situation is one of the only times that women could exercise political power. The king, when making the promise, probably assumed that the woman in question would ask for jewels or palaces or something ornamental. But instead, they make a politically charged demand. 

Bibliography: "Kaikeyi's Plot" Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).