Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 8: The Conversation Between Kaikeyī and Mantharā
Text 2.8.10
प्राप्तां सुमहतीं प्रीतिं प्रतीतां तां हतद्विषम्।
उपस्थास्यसि कौसल्यां दासीवत्त्वं कृताञ्जलिः॥
prāptāṁ sumahatīṁ prītiṁ pratītāṁ tāṁ hata-dviṣam
upasthāsyasi kausalyāṁ dāsīvat tvaṁ kṛtāñjaliḥ
prāptām = will attain; sumahatīm = very great; prītim = joy; pratītām = and recognition 1; tām = she; hata-dviṣam = having destroyed her rivals; upasthāsyasi = will attend; kausalyām = to Kausalyā; dāsīvat = as her maidservant; tvam = you; kṛta-añjaliḥ = with your palms joined in supplication.
With your palms joined in supplication, you will attend to Kausalyā as her maidservant. Having destroyed her rivals, she will attain very great joy and recognition.
Mantharā then points out that just as Bharata would experience difficulties from Rāma, Kaikeyī would experience difficulties from Kausalyā.1 Mantharā thinks that Kausalyā would attain very great prosperity because of Rāma’s coronation and that she would have destroyed her rivals, that is, she would have eclipsed her co-wives—Kaikeyī would have to menially attend to that Kausalyā.
1. This idea is another colorful product of Mantharā’s senile brain. As will be evident from the Rāmāyaṇa itself, Kausalyā did not mistreat her junior co-wives, even after Rāma sat on the throne of Ayodhyā after fourteen years.