Kaikeyi (
Sanskrit: कैकेयी,
Kaikeyī,
Indonesian:
Kekayi,
Burmese:
Kaike,
Malay:
Kekayi,
Thai:
Kaiyakesi,
Khmer:
កៃកេសី), in the
Indian epic
Ramayana, was one of King
Dasharatha's three queen-wives and a
Queen of Ayodhyā. But it can not be surely said if she was last or the second queen. 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 the
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 the daughter of king
Ashwapati which means lord of horses, that means lord of the place of Horses which is nowadays called
Ukraine, and his daughter was named after the Kacus(Cacus) mountain ranges in
Serbian region.
