ज्ञातिदासी यतोजाता कैकेय्यास्तु सहोषिता।
प्रासादं चन्द्रसङ्काशम् आरुरोह यदृच्छया॥
jñāti-dāsī yato-jātā kaikeyyās tu sahoṣitā
prāsādaṁ candra-saṅkāśam āruroha yadṛcchayā
jñāti-dāsī = a maidservant of relatives 1; yataḥ-jātā = born somewhere; kaikeyyāḥ tu = Kaikeyī’s; saha-uṣitā = and now living with her; prāsādam = the palace; candra-saṅkāśam = that resembled the moon; āruroha = climbed; yadṛcchayā = by her own wish 2.
By her own wish, a maidservant of Kaikeyī’s relatives, born somewhere and now living with her, climbed the palace that resembled the moon.
1 The commentator uses the word āviṣṭa to refer to the devas’ empowerment of Mantharā’s words. Āviṣṭa literally means “possessed” and it signifies that the devas, by their unique powers, possessed the words of Mantharā that eventually culminated in the prevention of Rāma’s coronation as Daśaratha’s heir apparent.
1 Because of her atrocity.
It is now described that Rāma’s coronation was prevented by the words of Mantharā that were empowered by the devas who hankered for Rāvaṇa’s destruction.1
The previous chapter described events that occurred on the previous day, that is, the day prior to the day of coronation: Rāma carried out the preliminaries to the coronation—fasting and so on—and the residents of the city and the country were filled with delight upon hearing about Rāma’s coronation. Now, Sage Vālmīki begins to describe events pertaining to Kaikeyī that occurred in the meanwhile.
Yato-jātā indicates that Kaikeyī’s maidservant Mantharā was born somewhere, that is, her place of birth and parents were unknown. Therefore, it should be understood that she became a maidservant of Kaikeyī’s friend simply to fill up her belly. Yato-jātā also indicates that persons like Mantharā who were born somehow or other cannot take birth in Ayodhyā, and that the name of her place of birth and family background are unfit to be described.2 The ācāryas describe that she was
1. The commentator uses the word āviṣṭa to refer to the devas’ empowerment of Mantharā’s words. Āviṣṭa literally means “possessed” and it signifies that the devas, by their unique powers, possessed the words of Mantharā that eventually culminated in the prevention of Rāma’s coronation as Daśaratha’s heir apparent.
actually sent by the devas to unsettle Kaikeyī to accomplish their mission. Because this is confidential to the devas, it was a secret and therefore Śrī Vālmīki simply referred to Mantharā as having taken birth somewhere.
Sahoṣitā indicates that she lived with Kaikeyī simply because she was hunchbacked and hence an object of laughter.
2. Because of her atrocity.