Kaikeyi
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Kaikeyi (Sanskrit: कैकेयी, kaikeyī), in the Hindu epic Ramayana, was the youngest of King Dasaratha's three wives and a queen of Ayodhya. She was the mother of Bharata. The word Kaikeyi in Sanskrit means "belonging to Kaikey" or "of Kaikeya".
Once, during a war, Dasaratha's chariot's wheel broke. At this time of distress, Kaikeyi, who happened to be with him at that time, came to his rescue and fixed the chariot. Touched by this timely service, Dasaratha offered her two boons. However, Kaikeyi chose to ask those boons later.
Following Rama's crowning as yuvaraja Kaikeyi's maid Manthara, who wished to advance her own status at court by having Bharata crowned, which would in turn make Kaikeyi Queen Mother, convinced Kaikeyi to use the boons to have Rama exiled.
Kaikeyi subsequently asked Dasaratha the two boons. One,to have Rama exiled to the forest for 14 years, and two, to have her own son Bharata made the crown-prince[1].
Kaikeyi came to regret her actions when Dasaratha died of the grief of having banished his son. She came to blame herself for this death. Bharata, too, blamed her; he is said never to have called her "mother" again.
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