Kaikeyi

Dasharatha found Kaikeyi in the anger room and asked what had made her unhappy. She pushed him away when he tried to take her in his arms. The king promised to make her happy, but Kaikeyi had already chosen what she would ask. In the Ramayana account set in Ayodhya, she told him to make Bharata king and send Rama into the forest for fourteen years.

The demand reached back to a battle between the devas and the asuras. In Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, Kaikeyi reminded Dasharatha that she had saved his life in that battle and that he had promised her two boons. She now used them together. Rama would leave the palace and live as a hermit in the forest, while Bharata would be made king of Ayodhya. Dasharatha flinched when he heard the requests.

Other Ramayana retellings keep the same decision in different language. One has Kaikeyi insist that Rama's exile and Bharata's coronation happen at once. Another has her demand that the coronation of Rama be stopped and Bharata crowned instead. The wording changes, but the two parts of the request remain joined: Rama must be removed, and Bharata must take his place.

Kaikeyi knew that Dasharatha had sworn to grant the boons. In The Ramayana, the king's promise had been made in Rama's name, so he could not simply withdraw it. Her demand therefore became an order despite his grief. The episode closes with Kaikeyi holding him to the old promise and naming the future she wants. Rama's path to the forest and Bharata's claim to the throne begin with the same speech in the anger room.