One Min Ramayana 7 — Rama’s exile — Why Kaikeyi asked for 14 years and not 13 or 15 years?

We all know Kaikeyi, who loved Lord Rama more than her own son Bharata, asked for Rama to be sent to forest after listening to Manthara’s poisonous advice. This episode extended Ramayana further but fulfilled the purpose of Ram avatar, that is — to kill Ravana. If not for Manthara, Lord Rama would have inherited King Dasaratha’s throne and would have settled as another Great King in Raghu Vamsam. But we cannot justify Kaikeyi’s atrocious demands of not only asking Bharata to be crowned as King but also sending Rama to forest for 14 long years.

Now one would wonder why Kaikeyi asked for 14 years exile and not any other number of years? During Threthayuga, if a Prince goes out of his territory for 14 years or more, he cannot claim the Kingdom after he is back. Kaikeyi very well knows that Rama being the epitome of Dharma will not ask to be crowned if he stays away from Ayodhya for 14 years. So with that in mind, Kaikeyi deliberately wanted to send Rama for at least 14 years.

However, this is where Devathas interrupted when she wanted to ask that boon. By invoking Saraswati Devi, Devathas made her ask the boon as “Nava Panchaka Varshani” meaning 9 plus 5 years of exile instead of “Chaturdasha Varshani” meaning 14 years.

This sloka can be found in, Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 11, Sloka No 26. The sloka reads as below.

नव पञ्च च वर्षाणि दण्डकारण्यमाश्रितः

So essentially, Kaikeyi asked Rama to be sent to forest for 9 years and then again for another 5 years. After 9 years, Rama takes a short break from exile and then again goes back for another 5 years. Hence, after killing Ravana he again accepts the Kingdom since he was only away for about 6 years.

This episode tells us that if you are on the side of Dharma, God will make sure you will win at the end.

Sri Rama Jayam!