Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 9: Kaikeyī Convinced by Mantharā
Text 2.9.51
चन्द्रमाह्वयमानेन मुखेनाप्रतिमानना।
गमिष्यसि गतिं मुख्यां गर्वयन्ती द्विषज्जनम्॥
candram āhvayamānena mukhenāpratimānanā
gamiṣyasi gatiṁ mukhyāṁ garvayantī dviṣaj-janam
candram = the moon [itself]; āhvayamānena = competing with; mukhena apratima-ānanā = with your face unmatched [in beauty]; gamiṣyasi = you will walk; gatim = gait; mukhyām = with an excellent; garvayantī = prideful; dviṣat-janam = in the presence of my rivals.
With your face unmatched [in beauty], competing with the moon [itself], you will walk with an excellent and prideful gait in the presence of my rivals.
Kaikeyī thought that Mantharā would walk with a gait that puts everyone else among Kaikeyī’s co-wives into insignificance, as if they were but blades of straw].