Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 10: Daśaratha Meets Kaikeyī
Text 2.10.2

सा दीना निश्चयं कृत्वा मन्थरावाक्यमोहिता।
नागकन्येव निश्वस्य दीर्घमुष्णं च भामिनी।
मुहूर्तं चिन्तयामास मार्गमात्मसुखावहम्॥

sā dīnā niścayaṁ kṛtvā mantharā-vākya-mohitā
nāga-kanyeva niśvasya dīrgham uṣṇaṁ ca bhāminī
muhūrtaṁ cintayām āsa mārgam ātma-sukhāvaham

= that; dīnā = morose; niścayam kṛtvā = came to a conclusion; mantharā-vākya-mohitā = bewildered by the words of Mantharā; nāga-kanyā = a nāga princess; iva = like; niśvasya = and sighed; dīrgham = long; uṣṇam = warmly; ca = and; bhāminī = and beautiful Kaikeyī; muhūrtam = for a while; cintayām āsa = she then thought; mārgam = about the means; ātma-sukha-āvaham = to her happiness.

Bewildered by the words of Mantharā, that morose and beautiful Kaikeyī came to a conclusion and sighed long and warmly like a nāga princess. She then thought for a while about the means to her happiness.

Kaikeyī was morose while worrying about whether her attempt will be successful or not.

[In some manuscripts of the Rāmāyaṇa, text 3 comes before text 2, but] text 3 should be after text 2 because the text flows properly with this textual sequence.1

 

1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: etad artha-trayaṁ niścityeti pūrva-ślokāt pūrvam eva niveśanīyam, artha-saṅgati-svārasyāt.