Rama was about to be crowned as the next King, and the night before a sequence of events happened that turned Rama’s life and future of the Bharavarsha upside down.
Kaikeyi the stepmother of the Lord Rama, whom Rama loved dearly and she also loved him equally like her own son. How did she suddenly turn into an evil mother? She made some unreasonable demands that no mother has ever made for their children. She made Rama’s exile inevitable and made sure that he left the Ayodhya and stayed in the forest.
Now if we look at these events, it seems really unfair but the outcome was unimaginable. Without Rama going to the forest he could never met the Hanuman and Sugriva. The abduction of Sita could never have happened and the death of Ravan would be next to impossible.
If we look at the epic, many instances suggest Rama’s exile was inevitable, whereas Kaikeyi was just being the reason.
Let’s look them one by one,
- When Laxman heard of Rama’s exile, he told him to take the empire forcefully, to which Rama replied I can see that God has another plan for me. Rama himself believed that his exile was not an ordinary play, it was for the greater good.
- In Valmiki Ramayana’s chapters 1-15, we get a remote hint. The Devas were being harassed by Ravana the Rakshasa King of Lanka. He had become puffed up with power acquired by him through the boon of God Brahma. The boon was that he would be invulnerable and invincible against the Devas, Asuras, and Gandharvas. He had no fear of attacks from man, as he was sure that a mere man could not defeat him. When the Devas approached Brahma for protection against the attacks of Ravana, He told them to approach Lord Vishnu and request Him to intervene in the matter. When Vishnu learned about the Devas’ grievance, He promised to be born to Dasharatha as one of his four sons and destroy Ravana.
- We get another statement revealing the intention of the Gods (here we can interpret gods as leaders of men at different levels in the then Bharata Varsha) in 3-5-20 to 23. Indra, the Lord of the heavens, had come to the hermitage of the sage Sharabhanga in the Dandaka forest. Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana proceeded to the same ashrama after they had left their Chitrakuta mountain habitat. Indra saw them coming. He immediately left that ashrama. He said to the Gods: “Let Rama complete his mission of conquering Ravana-here (Indra does not spell out as to whom Rama was supposed to conquer). He has to do the work that none else can do. I shall see him after that.” It looks like the leaders of men – the sages – were clearly thinking of removing the menace of Ravana. They must have also thought that Rama was the only person to accomplish that job. Rama was the only Kshatriya prince then, who had lifted that Shiva Dhanushya (bow kept at Janak’s palace)
- It has been always the mission of the Kashtriyas to protect the sages and common men from the harassment of the evildoers. We do not get the plan to make Kaikeyi behave in that uncommon and unbecoming way and force Rama to go into exile. Ordinarily, on the invitation of the sages, he would have gone out into that conquering mission of the Rakshasas. For this purpose, the enactment of such a tragedy was quite unnecessary. We get yet another statement from the sage Bharadvaja. He told Bharata when he had come there to take Rama back to Ayodhya: “Oh Bharata! do not blame Kaikeyi. Rama’s exile would prove beneficial to the Devas, Danavas, and the sages.”
- Lord Brahma himself is stated to have said: कृ तं कायं- Oh! Our work is done.” When Sita was being taken away forcibly by Ravana the sages were sad, yet they were also happy in a way. For they now felt that Ravana the main actor in that scheme of atrocities being perpetrated on the sages, would now be removed from the scene.
Conclusion
Lord Vishnu came as Rama, to teach us how to lead the ideal life as humans. Another purpose was for the destruction of the Ravana, as per his boon no one else than human can kill Ravana. Exile became the main turning point of Rama’s life where he can fulfill both purposes of his incarnation. Hence, it was the design of God to make the prince of Ayodhya a sage and send him to the forest where he could experience the normal human life and atrocities of the Rakshasa, which could never be possible if Rama would become the Yuvraj(crown prince) of Ayodhya.