Satyaketu of Kekaya

Satyaketu was a great king of the Kekaya dynasty. He was the father of Pratāpabhānu. The Bāla Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa names him as a celebrated ruler in the line from which Pratāpabhānu came.

Satyaketu and his son

Satyaketu ruled the Kekaya kingdom. His son Pratāpabhānu became the most powerful emperor of his age. In Pratāpabhānu’s reign the Kekaya kingdom reached the height of its imperial power, and he brought all the other kings of the earth under his rule.

Pratāpabhānu later fell through guile. The śāpa (curse) of the brāhmaṇas then brought the dynasty to an end. In the next birth the line was reborn in the rākṣasa family as Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa and Vibhīṣaṇa. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells this in full in the Pratāpabhānu Kathā.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Pratāpabhānu Kathā