NOTE. This is the first time it is explicitly mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa that Daśaratha understood that Kaikeyī wanted to take charge of the kingdom by using her son as her handle. This idea will resurface in this Canto a few times and we will see Bharata stating this openly to Kaikeyī.

According to the Dharma-śāstras, Kaikeyī could not officially sit on the throne but unofficially she could easily have the entire kingdom under her control if she had an obedient son sitting on the throne as her proxy. This was certainly possible and allowed in Vedic culture.

Prabhupāda remarks that officially kṣatriya ladies were never given the post of the chief executive head of a government:

Devakī was the daughter of a kṣatriya and knew how to play the political game. In politics there are different methods of achieving success: first repression (dama), then compromise (sāma), and then asking for a gift (dāna). Devakī first adopted the policy of repression by directly attacking Kaṁsa for having cruelly, atrociously killed her babies. Then she compromised by saying that this was not his fault, and then she begged for a gift. As we learn from the history of the Mahābhārata, or “Greater India,” the wives and daughters of the ruling class, the kṣatriyas, knew the political game, but we never find that a woman was given the post of chief executive. This is in accordance with the injunctions of Manu-saṁhitā, but unfortunately Manu-saṁhitā is now being insulted, and the Āryans, the members of Vedic society, cannot do anything. Such is the nature of Kali-yuga. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.4.5)

In Vedic civilization, some functions are carried out officially and some functions are carried out unofficially—but producing the same end result. Such arrangements are for the greater good of society. And those who desire a healthy and sane social arrangement that facilitates the development of renunciation, spiritual wisdom and devotional service unto the Supreme Godhead are well advised to carefully adopt such arrangements.