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From girlhood to motherhood, Kaikeyi’s life is shaped by male dismissal and disapproval.

One of the novel’s main themes is the futility of being female in a society which allows women little freedom.

Like many modern retellings, Kaikeyi has feminist overtones. He was not a perfect man, that I freely admit, but for all his faults he loved each of his sons fiercely… If he bears any fault, it is through his inaction. The people of Bharat have often blamed my father for my sins, as if a woman cannot own her own actions. No points for fun, and it’s a far cry from the manipulative, ruthless queen who imposes her will so strongly in the original tale. What we are left with is a rather sanctimonious traditional heroine. In doing so, she removes all but the faintest shadow of this character’s antiheroic potential. Instead of leaning into darkness, Patel chooses to emphasise Kaikeyi’s moral purity. I have to say, this seems like a missed opportunity, given that moral perversion and rule-breaking lend villainous perspectives such inherent complexity. By reframing the young queen’s more questionable decisions as acts of noble self-sacrifice, the novel essentially acquits its villain of villainy. In seeing things from Kaikeyi’s perspective, we are encouraged to sympathise with her reasoning, even when her choices cause strife and unhappiness. The Ramayana’s main antagonist, the demonic Lord Ravana, is also presented here in a sympathetic light. Vaishnavi Patel’s reworking of this story is a essentially a redemption narrative, and not just for Kaikeyi. Promoting her son’s interests ahead of his half-brother, Rama, who is the true heir to the throne (and an avatar of the Hindu god, Vishnu), she orchestrates the divine hero’s exile, inadvertently setting him on the path to holy destiny. In the Ramayana, Kaikeyi acts as a lesser antagonist. Though the novel is based on a religious text, the author has taken significant liberties in her characterisation of holy figures, making this more of a fantasy retelling than a faith-based take.

Following our narrator and protagonist on her journey, we see Kaikeyi rise from powerless princess to political heavyweight. The author’s debut, Kaikeyi is a loose retelling of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.