Mantharā
Mantharā was the hunchbacked (kubjā) attendant of Queen Kaikeyī in the royal palace of Ayodhyā. She was the immediate human cause of Rāma’s exile. When she learned that Rāma was to be crowned, she went to Kaikeyī. By stirring up fear and jealousy, she persuaded the queen to use the two varas (boons) that King Daśaratha had once given her. Kaikeyī asked that Rāma be sent into exile and that Bharata be crowned.
Who she was
Mantharā was Kaikeyī’s personal dāsī (attendant). She had served the queen for many years. She held a bitter resentment against Rāma and Kauśalyā. The Agni Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 6) calls her kubjā, hunchbacked.
The scheming
On the eve of Rāma’s coronation, Mantharā came to Kaikeyī in the palace and painted a dark picture. Rāma’s rise would push Bharata aside. Kauśalyā would rule over Kaikeyī. In time Kaikeyī’s son would be left with no place of power. She reminded Kaikeyī of the two varas Daśaratha had given her long ago. Step by step she wore down Kaikeyī’s natural goodwill toward Rāma and put fear and jealousy in its place. At last Kaikeyī entered the kopa-bhavana (the chamber of anger) and made her demands.
The scheming in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa
The Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells her campaign of persuasion in full. First she told Kaikeyī the news in alarming words: Rāma was to be crowned the very next morning. Kaikeyī was glad at first. Then Mantharā pressed harder. She said Rāma’s rise would be Kaikeyī’s downfall. Kauśalyā would become the leading queen. Kaikeyī would have to serve Rāma as a servant serves. Bharata would be pushed aside.
Kaikeyī still held back and said she loved Rāma like her own son. Then Mantharā raised the varas. Daśaratha had given them freely when Kaikeyī saved his life on the battlefield. They had been kept for a time of need, and Mantharā said that time had come.
Step by step, Mantharā turned Kaikeyī’s feeling about the coronation from joy to worry, then to resentment, then to action. Her success set the whole Rāmāyaṇa in motion. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–11)
Her place in the divine plan
The tradition regards Mantharā as the means through which the exile was set in motion. Without Rāma’s exile, the purpose of the avatāra (the descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Rāma) could not be fulfilled. Her scheming was the trigger for the whole Rāmāyaṇa.
The Mahābhārata. The Rāmopākhyāna (Vana Parva, Chapter 276) tells where Mantharā came from. The devas and Brahmā were considering how to set Rāma’s exile in motion so that Rāvaṇa could be slain. Brahmā called the gandharva woman Dundubhī before the gathered devas. He commanded her to go down to earth to carry out the divine purpose. Obeying Brahmā’s order, Dundubhī took birth as Mantharā, the hunchbacked woman in Kaikeyī’s service. Brahmā told her exactly what to do and when. She carried out his instruction faithfully.
The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa. In the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, the devas together went to Sarasvatī and begged her to step in. She entered Mantharā’s mind.
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa (context)
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–11
- Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Pūrṇa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 5
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 276 (Rāmopākhyāna)