Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi tries praying to the minor gods to bring her mother back. She goes to the cellar where her mother often took her to read older, more ancient scrolls. She collects a number of scrolls about different, unfamiliar gods or gods to whom she prays less frequently. She prays to them in her room, then opens a scroll that seems at least a century old with difficult syntax and frayed edges. Thinking it’s a meditation exercise, she tries to read it but grows too frustrated. After taking a break, she tries again. The scroll tells her, “Let your gaze slip into the Binding Plane. If you have trouble locating such a place, seek out the threads that connect you and use the words of focus given below” (17). Kaikeyi memorizes the focus words, though they do not help her find the Binding Plane, and she does not understand what it means. 

After dinner, Manthara helps Kaikeyi get ready for bed, brushing her hair. Kaikeyi admits to knowing that her mother was banished, and Manthara shares what she knows. Kaikeyi’s father has a boon, a gift, from the Lord Vishnu that allows him to understand the language of birds. If he tells anyone what a bird tells him, however, he will die. He claims that Kekaya asked him what a pair of swans told him, but Manthara says Kekaya had a different explanation, though she does not share what it is. As she speaks, Kaikeyi sees a red thread appear between them in her vision. Her fingers pass through it, but she can see it clearly. She panics but tries to act normal in front of Manthara. When she goes to bed, she says the words of focus again and sees the thread to Manthara, as well as several other threads. She plucks Manthara’s thread to see what will happen, and Manthara rushes to her room, worried about her. She lies and says she was just hungry though Manthara remains suspicious. She stays with Kaikeyi until she falls asleep.

The next morning, Kaikeyi and Yudhajit argue over which game to play. She asks him to play the game she wants while at the same time plucking his thread— sapphire blue and thicker than her thread to Manthara. He agrees, and she realizes it is not a coincidence that people listen to her when she touches their threads. Yudhajit wins the game, but Kaikeyi revels in her newfound power. When they finish the game, Kaikeyi takes the time to explore the different threads of the Binding Plane. She has strong threads connected to her brothers, and other bonds of various strengths with the servants and other people of the palace. Using the Binding Plane exhausts her, and as she lays in bed at night, she thinks about how she usually would pray to Nidra the goddess of sleep, who once woke Vishnu from an unbreakable sleep and saved the gods from the dangerous asuras—a type of powerful demon. However, despite this story, Kaikeyi knows of no festivals for Nidra. She feels connected to Nidra because they’ve both been forgotten, and when Kaikeyi dreams nice things, she believes that Nidra favors her. Her ability to use the Binding Plane further convinces her of the gods’ favor. She prays to Nidra again before she falls asleep.

The next day, Kaikeyi’s father hosts a banquet for a warlord. She does not wish to attend, so she asks Neeti, another maid who stands in for Manthara when she is busy, to tell her father that she is ill and cannot attend. Neeti pushes back, but Kaikeyi plucks the thread between them and pleads with her. Neeti agrees and turns to leave, but Kaikeyi realizes she did not thank her and quickly offers her gratitude. Neeti tells Kaikeyi that she can come find her if she’s ever lonely. 

Kaikeyi’s use of the Binding Plane grows stronger and more effortless with practice. She attempts to use it to convince her art teacher, a noble woman at the court, to let her skip embroidery lessons. The woman allows it, but Manthara later finds Kaikeyi and scolds her. Manthara brings Kaikeyi among the servants to observe them in their roles, which makes Kaikeyi’s bonds with the servants grow stronger. Manthara also brings Kaikeyi to the meetings of the wives of the Mantri Prashad, the raja’s council of advisors. Kaikeyi finds the meetings boring as the women coo over her, but eventually she finds a way to use the Binding Plane to make the women like her, speaking praise of herself into it. To find out more information, she plucks a thread as she asks a question. 

In the afternoons after her meetings with Manthara, Kaikeyi meets with Yudhajit, sometimes asking him to show her the art of warfare. The sages (religious officials of Kekaya) claim not to involve themselves in governmental affairs, but their decrees about the will of the gods regarding the roles of men and women inform the rule of law. Women are not allowed to fight or appear in public unaccompanied and must have their male representatives speak for them. When Kaikeyi questions this, the sages force her to pray, claiming the gods will be enraged by deviance from the traditional gender roles. Still, using the Binding Plane, Kaikeyi sometimes manages to convince Yudhajit to teach her to fight. After her first mistake in each lesson, he gives up, claiming it’s too hard to teach girls. Since Kekaya is famed for the quality of their horses, Kaikeyi is allowed to ride, something feels emotionally connected to and deeply loves.

Kaikeyi and Yudhajit spend the first year of their mother’s absence awkwardly straddling the boundary between childhood and adulthood; Kaikeyi tries to prove herself to the other women at court while Yudhajit tries to win his father’s confidence. Their father announces they plan to travel to the Sarasvati River to pay tribute to the goddess that blesses the people of Kekaya. A rakshasa, another type of demon less powerful than the asuras, has been reported in the northern foothills near the river. 

Kaikeyi asks Neeti to go with her on the journey, but Neeti refuses. Kaikeyi pushes on the bond, more forcefully, citing her position as yuvradnyi to demand that Neeti come. She pushes on the bond until it snaps, leaving Neeti enraged. She tells Kaikeyi that her mother is sick. Kaikeyi laments the loss of their friendship and realizes that overuse of the Binding Plane can damage and even destroy her relationships. 

On the journey to Sarasvati River, Kaikeyi searches for the thread of her relationship with Neeti and cannot find it. When they camp for the night, Yudhajit asks her to sneak away from camp with him to search for a white elephant that soldiers have spotted nearby. Kaikeyi agrees, and when they sneak into the jungle Kaikeyi sees the rakshasa near a stream. The rakshasa chases them back to camp, and Yudhajit demands they be taken to their father so they can warn him. When the knows the rakshasa is coming, Kaikeyi tells him she dreamt about it. He doubts her until Yudhajit assures him that he dreamt the rakshasa, too. Kaikeyi falls asleep and wakes to the commotion of the soldiers returning after killing the rakshasa, though it cost them the lives of three men. The raja thanks Yudhajit for warning him, ignoring Kaikeyi, which Yudhajit does not acknowledge. 

When they arrive at the river, Kaikeyi wades in, praying to Sri Sarasvati for knowledge to understand her use of the Binding Plane and what she’s meant to do with it. The group remains somber because of the death of the soldiers, and Kaikeyi ponders the loss of Neeti. Yudhajit asks if she’s sad because she misses their mother, and Kaikeyi lies and agrees. He offers her anything she needs, and Kaikeyi says that if he remembers his promise when they return home, she will tell him what she needs.

The day after they return to Kekaya, Kaikeyi asks Yudhajit to fulfill his promise to her by training her to fight. He resists but she argues that she wants to be able to defend herself after the scare they had with the rakshasa. She quotes the sages who say that teaching allows for greater learning, so Yudhajit will also benefit from teaching her and become a better fighter. He tells her they must train where no one else will see them, as it is forbidden.

During their first training session, Yudhajit shows Kaikeyi the forms, not giving her weapons until later in her training process. After practicing the forms, Kaikeyi feels sore and exhausted, but she’s determined to keep practicing and become stronger. Manthara is the only one who knows about her training besides Yudhajit. The nurse questions why she needs power beyond what she will one day wield as radnyi of a kingdom. Kaikeyi recognizes the power of her position as yuvradnyi, thinking of how she saved Manthara from the wrath of Dhanteri over a decision about cuisine for one of the feasts, but her involvement resulted in Dhanteri being sent away, which makes Kaikeyi feel guilty. Kaikeyi knows she has power, but she also knows that as a woman, her power is limited—another reason she wants to fight.

As their training sessions progress, Yudhajit slowly introduces Kaikeyi to weapons, first a simple bow and arrow and then a war chariot. She is a natural at chariot driving, which she thinks will make Yudhajit jealous, but he praises her instead. The next time they train, he brings two chariots so they can practice together. They race through the forest, and though Kaikeyi wins, Yudhajit pushes her in the water because he wants her to relax and lighten up. 

Later, Kaikeyi asks Manthara to help her practice her swordsmanship. Manthara agrees, but on the condition that for each blow Kaikeyi lands on her, she must answer a question about the court. They practice, and Kaikeyi realizes the value of learning about the people in the raja’s court.

Kaikeyi strengthens her bonds with palace servants to gain insight into the raja’s court and excel in her role as yuvradnyi. She advises the cook to make a milder dish for a visiting chief who has an intolerance for spice. Despite the mildness of the food, it is still delicious and appreciated by the chief and the raja, which delights Kaikeyi. 

At 16, Kaikeyi still trains with Yudhajit but spends less time in the cellar reading the scrolls she used to peruse with her mother. However, when she returns to the cellar, she finds a hidden scroll with a note from her mother apologizing for leaving her behind. The scroll her mother chose for the note tells the story of Ahayla, a woman that the god Brahma made from water that all the gods wanted, though she was married off to Gautama, a talented sage who lived for centuries, collected many boons and won the competition for Ahayla’s hand. Indra, a powerful god, was jealous of Gautama, so he impersonated him and slept with Ahayla. Gautama found him as he fled and marked his face with lewd images before using one of his boons to turn Ahayla to stone. Kaikeyi recognizes her mother’s choice in scroll as a warning. 

After a training session, Yudhajit tells Kaikeyi that their younger brother Ashvin has not been successful in his riding and swordplay lessons. Kaikeyi decides to talk to him, as he recently recovered from an intense fever. Ashvin says that he does not like riding and swordplay and that his joints ache as a result of the fever. He pleads with Kaikeyi to not tell anyone about his shirking his lessons, and she agrees to help him pursue the path of becoming a healer to avoid having to do further physical activities. The raja summons Kaikeyi and Yudhajit and tells them it’s time to arrange Kaikeyi’s marriage. Kaikeyi asks for a swayamvara—a contest in which suitors must vie for her hand and at the end of which Kaikeyi can choose her husband. Yudhajit supports her request, and her father acquiesces. Later, Yudhajit tells her that he persuaded their father to wait a year to hold the swayamvara under the pretense of taking the time to properly prepare to show off Kekaya to other kingdoms.

Kaikeyi asks Manthara how to choose a husband who will listen to her and allow her to have her freedom. Manthara advises her to choose her husband well, learn to run a palace and be irreplaceable. Kaikeyi hones her skill at using the Binding Plane to nudge the servants into sharing important pieces of information with her. One day, two months before her swayamvara, Yudhajit comes to Kaikeyi and tells her that their father has gone back on his word and has engaged her to Raja Dasharath, the leader of the prominent kingdom of Kosala. Kaikeyi feels distraught at her father’s betrayal and at the prospect of becoming Dasharath’s third wife. He has no children by his other wives, so he seeks a third wife to bear him sons. She berates Yudhajit for allowing their father to sell her like a broodmare, but Yudhajit tells her that she must do her duty.

The next day, the servants dress Kaikeyi in a fine sari and do her hair and makeup in a way that makes her look like her mother. She goes to meet Dasharath in front of her father and his court. She’s relieved to find him younger than her father and recognizes an intensity in him that matches her own. She agrees to become his wife in exchange for his promise that her son will be named the first heir, even though she is the third wife. Dasharath agrees. 

The night before her wedding, Kaikeyi cries in her room. She misses her mother and wishes she could ask her about the marital duties expected for her. Manthara has explained the mechanics of the act, but Kaikeyi cannot ask her about physical intimacy since Manthara is unmarried. She does not feel desire when she imagines intimacy with Dasharath and wonders if she’s capable of it.

Yudhajit comes to Kaikeyi’s room to try to make amends and feels surprised that she is still angry. He tells her he loves her and is doing what he thinks is best. She says she never wants to see him again after the wedding and that he is no brother of hers. She watches the thread of their bond turn black and shatter.