Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 12: Kaikeyī Reaffirms her Demands
Text 2.12.46
भवत्यधर्मो धर्मो वा सत्यं वा यदि वानृतम्।
यत्त्वया संश्रुतं मह्यं तस्य नास्ति व्यतिक्रमः॥
bhavaty adharmo dharmo vā satyaṁ vā yadi vānṛtam
yat tvayā saṁśrutaṁ mahyaṁ tasya nāsti vyatikramaḥ
bhavati = be it; adharmaḥ = adharma; dharmaḥ = dharma; vā = or; satyam vā = truth; yadi vā = or; anṛtam = untruth; yat = what; tvayā = you; saṁśrutam = have promised; mahyam = me; tasya = from; na = no; asti = there is; vyatikramaḥ = going back.
Be it dharma or adharma, truth or untruth, there is no going back from what you have promised me.
1 True refers to adherence to the principle of scriptural truthfulness and untrue is the opposite of that. Those who accept Vedic authority accept the former as right and the latter as wrong.
This is her conclusion. She didn’t care about whether coronating Bharata after banishing Rāma was dharma or adharma. Her statement in text 2.9.30 that Rāma be banished to the forest might be true or untrue, that is, right nor wrong.1 But according to her, Daśaratha had promised her that he would grant her whatever benediction she asked, and he couldn’t go back on that.
And what did she intend to do if he refused to fulfill his promises to her? She states that in the next verse.