Kaikasī

Kaikasī was the mother of Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Śūrpaṇakhā and Vibhīshaṇa. She was the daughter of the rākshasa chief Sumāli. She married the ṛshi Viśravas, and from this marriage came the four great figures of the Rāmāyaṇa narrative.

Two texts tell her story. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells it in the Uttara Kāṇḍa. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells it as a plan made by her father Sumāli, so that a son born to the great brahmin Viśravas would be strong enough to bring back rākshasa glory.

Family and background

Kaikasī was the daughter of Sumāli. Sumāli was one of three great rākshasa chiefs: Mālyavān, Sumāli and Māli. They once ruled Laṅkā. Then they fled to the netherworld (rasātala, also called pātāla) because they feared Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa adds that they fled after Bhagavān Vishṇu killed Māli.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa names her mother as Ketumatī. It says she had several brothers, among them Prahasta, and sisters, among them Rākā, Pushpotkaṭā and Kumbhīnasī. Kumbhīnasī became the mother of Lavaṇāsura.

Sumāli’s plan

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sumāli saw that Kubera (Vaiśravaṇa) had become very powerful and rich. Kubera was born of the great brahmin Viśravas. He lived in Laṅkā and owned the splendid Pushpaka vimāna (flying chariot). Sumāli reasoned that a son born to Viśravas and his daughter Kaikasī would have the spiritual power of a brahmin line (Pulastya, then Viśravas) joined to the strength of the rākshasa line (Sumāli’s blood). Nothing could defeat such a son.

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sumāli came out of the netherworld and looked over the world. He saw that the brahmarshi (great brahmin ṛshi) Viśravas, the son of Pulastya and the father of Kubera, was the key to his plan. Children of Viśravas and Kaikasī would have the power of the Pulastya line together with a rākshasa nature. Such children could challenge even Kubera.

Kaikasī goes to Viśravas

Sumāli sent Kaikasī to the āśrama (hermitage) of Viśravas. She came to him at sandhyā-kāla, the hour of evening twilight. This hour is called inauspicious. In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa she stood before him with her eyes on the ground, drawing lines in the dust with her toe. This is the quiet way a young woman shows her purpose without speaking.

Viśravas knew her purpose through meditation and understood all that had happened. He warned her that the twilight hour she had chosen was inauspicious. Children born at that hour would be fierce, cruel and terrible. He also told her that the last child born of their union would be of good character. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa notes that this points to Vibhīshaṇa. Kaikasī, bound by her father’s plan, went ahead.

Her children

Kaikasī bore four children to Viśravas.

1. Rāvaṇa, also called Daśagrīva. He had ten heads. He was the most powerful rākshasa of his age and the king of Laṅkā.
2. Kumbhakarṇa. He was a giant warrior of great bodily strength. He was condemned to sleep for long periods.
3. Śūrpaṇakhā. She is also known as Mīnākshī. She was the rākshasī whose meeting with Rāma at Pañcavaṭī led to the Sītāharaṇa (the carrying away of Sītā).
4. Vibhīshaṇa. He was entirely noble in character. He was the one exception among the children, and in the end he went over to Rāma.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa says that after three fierce children were born, Kaikasī prayed for a child of noble character. Viśravas granted this, and Vibhīshaṇa was born with a righteous ātmā (soul).

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa also names two daughters: Krauñcī, whose voice was like a mountain cave, and Kumbhīnasā, who had the form of an elephant.

How she moved her sons to tapas

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Kaikasī urged her sons on. She saw Kubera (Vaiśravaṇa), the son of Viśravas by his first wife, travelling in the splendid Pushpaka vimāna. She felt ashamed and scolded her own sons: “You are cowards. You are alive but as good as dead. Do you feel no shame when you see your father’s other son in such glory?”

Her harsh words moved Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa to perform great tapas (austerity). By it they won extraordinary varas (boons) from Brahmā.

Her place in the Rāmāyaṇa

Kaikasī joined the brahmarshi line of Pulastya to the rākshasa line. Rāvaṇa was a grandson of the ṛshi Pulastya and knew the Vedas well. Her four children were very different from one another. Three of them shook the three worlds, and one became Rāma’s ally. In the Uttara Kāṇḍa she speaks little, but her part is large: she carried out Sumāli’s plan and became the mother of these four.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 13
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 5, 9, 10 and 11