Ayodhyākānda - Canto 9

Kaikeyī, whose heart was poisoned by the malicious gossip of Mantharā as aforesaid, takes a vow to see that Rāma is sent into exile and Bharata installed as Prince Regent, and asks Mantharā herself how to secure that consummation. Mantharā tells her how in the course of a conflict between gods and demons, in which Daśaratha’s help was enlisted by the gods, the queen, who had accompanied her husband to the field of operations and had rendered valuable assistance to him at a critical juncture, was offered a couple of boons, which she had kept in abeyance. Mantharā now asks Kaikeyī to demand the banishment of Rāma and the installation of Bharata against the two promised boons. Kaikeyī accordingly throws away her ornaments and lies down on the bare floor in the sulking-room in a sullen mood.