By reframing the young queen’s more questionable decisions as acts of noble self-sacrifice, the novel essentially acquits its villain of villainy. In seeing things from Kaikeyi’s perspective, we are encouraged to sympathise with her reasoning, even when her choices cause strife and unhappiness. The Ramayana’s main antagonist, the demonic Lord Ravana, is also presented here in a sympathetic light. Vaishnavi Patel’s reworking of this story is a essentially a redemption narrative, and not just for Kaikeyi. Promoting her son’s interests ahead of his half-brother, Rama, who is the true heir to the throne (and an avatar of the Hindu god, Vishnu), she orchestrates the divine hero’s exile, inadvertently setting him on the path to holy destiny. In the Ramayana, Kaikeyi acts as a lesser antagonist. Though the novel is based on a religious text, the author has taken significant liberties in her characterisation of holy figures, making this more of a fantasy retelling than a faith-based take. Following our narrator and protagonist on her journey, we see Kaikeyi rise from powerless princess to political heavyweight. The author’s debut, Kaikeyi is a loose retelling of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.
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