KNOW YOUR ENEMY - “MANTHARA”

 (Life Coaching Series)

Who doesn’t have any enemy? We all in the course of our life journey, in our endeavor to achieve something, with all our idiosyncrasies keep encountering enemies from time to time. In fact, it can be safely assumed that one who doesn’t have any enemy has never attempted anything worthwhile in life.

Now, there can be different kinds of enemies that can be classified as below:

Enemies	Open	Hidden
Known	Need to face them at any cost	Need to be alert always
Unknown	Need to understand their moves	Need to allure them to come out of hiding

 Different levels of hurdles can be posed by each type of enemy but, the most unpredictable is the one who remains unknown and hidden. In this context, let me draw your attention to the infamous “Manthara” of the great epic Ramayana. Manthara (formerly Princess Rekha and sister of Queen Kaikeyi) is deemed by many to be the villain who was the cause for Lord Rama’s exile and Sita’s miseries.

Those who have read this epic are aware of the actions of Manthara and the sequence of events that followed. For others, let me list out the same herewith:

1. An overambitious Princess Rekha utilizes potent potions to look attractive and fit for several years
2. An adverse reaction of this leads to her turning into a hunchback with sagging skin making her look old and diseased
3. Kaikeyi, her sister resorts to take up her responsibility whom she accompanies with to Ayodhya after her bethrotal to King Dasharatha
4. Kaikeyi fights alongside Dasharatha in the battlefield and also saves his life for which Dasharatha grants her 2 boons / wishes, which she banks up for a future date
5. Manthara has always been caring towards Kaikeyi and does it even more after this event for which she gets rebuked by all as a maidservant
6. Upon hearing news that the King has selected Prince Rama (Kaushalya’s son) to be coronated instead of Prince Bharata (Kaikeyi’s son), Manthara is filled with rage
7. It is Manthara who provokes Kaikeyi with the premise that her own son Bharata may be denied a good royal life if he is denied the throne
8. It is Manthara who reminds Kaikeyi that she should demand the ascension of Bharata to the royal throne and exile of 14 years for Rama, in lieu of the 2 boons that Dasharatha owed to her

Rest of the events are history that make up the rest of Ramayana. I would like you to pause here and think about an alternative sequence of events had this occurred in the current times:

1. What if Dasharatha had refused to honor his boons?
2. What if Rama had refused to honor his father’s word?
3. What if Sita had not chosen to follow Rama?
4. What if Lakshmana had not chosen to follow and serve his brother Rama in exile?
5. What if Bharata had chosen to accede to the throne and declare himself as the King of Ayodhya?

It would have been quite a different story, much like the “Game of Thrones” or that of despotic rulers like Aurangzeb, Herod, Peter, etc. In Ramayana, the evil plans of Manthara fell flat at Bharata’s level. Alas, now we might not see such kind of sacrifice for one another anymore. We don’t have people like Dasharatha, Rama, Sita, Lakshamana, Bharata anymore, but we do have people like Manthara amongst us.  

Hence, we need to understand the modus operandi of people like Manthara amongst us. Her villainous character has the following shades:

1. Overambitious who would go to any extent to remain the center of attraction (using harmful concoctions for beautification)
2. Resentful and revengeful temperament forged by a shattered and mortified ego (rebuked by all for ugly looks and actions too)
3. Megalomaniac control freak who could mask real intentions behind a caring attitude (total control of her sister). 

Further, it would be impossible for anyone to think that someone frail and lowly like Manthara could eke out such evil plans. She cunningly utilized everything at her behest to seize power from mighty people. The following point are worth pondering:

1. An impeccable image built over the years – complete faithfulness and loyalty towards Kaikeyi
2. Consistent actions complementing her image – ignoring everyone’s rebuke and continuing her chores
3. Excellent persuasion skills – how else could she turn around a happy & loving Kaikeyi against Rama, and make her ignore the fact that Dasharatha who loved her the most amongst his 4 wives would pose a danger to the royal well-being of her own son Bharata?
4. Perfect situational awareness – a low profile maidservant (as seen by others in Ayodhya) who jumps into action at the right time (announcement of coronation of Rama) with the right tools (using Kaikeyi as a front)
5. Racketeer mindset – coaching her sister to exact chantage via emotional blackmail of the King
6. Skilled at partisanship & insurgency – No one knew that it is Manthara who is behind all the turmoil. The brothers Shatrughna and Bharata realize this at a later stage after the game has been played on them i.e., after Rama’s exile.

So, it is imperative that we know how to identify the Mantharas in our lives and stop the dominoes effect like Bharata who refused to accept the throne at any cost and waited till the return of his brother Shri Rama. It is easier said than done. Everyone doesn’t get to have the luxury of bonding like the Raghuvamsha brothers. Therefore, if you are faced with a situation like that of Lord Rama, you need to act swift in order to avoid an exile-like situation.

Here are the 3 pivots using which you can determine the genuineness and gravity of any situation:

•        Trust: There can be no transaction without some amount of trust. It is trust that moves the wheels of time.
•        Tolerance: No transaction can be smooth without some amount of tolerance. It is tolerance that can get things done.
•        Time:  Time is the measuring scale that helps us to monitor the movement and smoothness of transactions.

Manthara can win as long as even one of these three elements are on her side. Thus, one needs to ensure that one’s unknown hidden enemies are bereft of trust, time or tolerance at all times.