Guiding Others to Action: The Role of Women in The Ramayana Puja Harikumar College

In the Indian epic the Ramayana, there are several women who play integral roles in the story. For example, it is because of Rama’s stepmother that he is sent of into the forest to live in the first place, it is because of Surpanakha that Rama draws the ire of Ravana, and the majority of the epic is spent talking about how Rama’s quest to free his wife, Sita from Ravana’s clutches. This paper will argue that the primary function of the women in this story is to serve as catalysts meant to set events into motion by examining the impact of their actions on the male characters.

The first of these women is Kaikeyi, Rama’s stepmother. She is the very reason Rama is sent into exile, for she demands that his father banish him and place her own son, Bharata on the throne instead. In what appears to be an act of sheer maliciousness, she proceeds to put his departure on a time crunch, by stating that his father will not eat or bathe until he leaves. “Even the consideration that the father does not say so himself, should not stop you. Till you leave this city he will neither bathe nor eat” (1178). It is interesting to note that when Kaikeyi says this, she is putting words into her husband’s mouth, as he reacts to them with shock and...