Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi
Dasharatha promises to banish Rama per Kaikeyi's wishes(A folio from Ayodhya Kand manuscript)
Information
Spouse(s)	Dasharatha
Children	Bharata

Kaikeyi (Sanskrit: कैकेयी, Kaikeyī, Indonesian: Kekayi, Burmese: Kaike, Malay: Kekayi, Thai: Kaiyakesi, Khmer: កៃកេសី Kaikesei, in the Indian epic Ramayana, was one of King Dasharatha's three wives and Queen of Ayodhya. In Ayodhya kand Rama says that Kaikeyi is their younger mother(chapter 52, verse 61). But in Aranya kand Rama says that न ते अम्बा मध्यमा तात गर्हितव्या कथंचन। ताम् एव इक्ष्वाकु नाथस्य भरतस्य कथाम् कुरु(chapter 16, verse 37) Which means "In any way, dear Lakshmana, you are not supposed to deplore another mother of ours, but you go on telling the topics of Bharata, the king of Ikshvakus." The word अम्बा मध्यमा means second mother or middle mother. She was mother of Bharata. The term Kaikeyī in Sanskrit means belonging to Kekeya Kingdom, referring the ruling family of the Kekaya clan, to whom Kaikeyī belonged. Kaikeyi was daughter of king Ashwapati(lord of horses).

As daughter of the mighty Ashwapati, a long-term ally of Kosala, Kaikeyi married Dasharatha, as his second wife. But after marriage, Kaikeyi was also not able to conceive a child, as Kashaulya. Dasharatha also married Sumitra, princess of Kashi, but she also remained barren for many years of marriage, as a result of which Dasharatha wasn't able to father a child.