66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

Tomorrow he is crowning Rama as the King of Ayodhya and
retiring.”
Kaikeyi got up, exclaiming, “Wonderful! Wonderful! Here
is your reward for the good news you bear.” She took off her
necklace and threw it on Kooni’s lap. Kooni received it and
laid it aside. Now Kaikeyi said, “For the excellence of your
news you deserve more. Tell me what you wish and you shall
have it.” This really provoked Kooni to cry out, “I said Rama
is becoming the king of Ayodhya, and you behave as if I had
said your son Bharatha …”
“I make no distinction between the two. It’s all the same to
me. Rama is the one who was born to it, and as a mother it
makes me proud and happy… .”
“You, Rama’s mother!”
“Yes, don’t you know that one in Rama’s position should
count five mothers: the one who has borne him, a
stepmother, a father’s sister, an elder brother’s wife, and the
wife of the guru—all these have equal rank as mother. You
understand why I feel happy about Rama? I adore him. I’m
his mother as well as Kausalya is. And so make no mistake
that I’m a fool and do not understand things!” At which Kooni
beat her brow with her palms with such force that Kaikeyi
said, “You have hurt yourself—a contusion big as my thumb!”
“I’d be happy if I killed myself or had not been born at all,
rather than see all the treachery that goes on in this world,”
wailed Kooni. “My sorrow, now, is for you, the doom that