कैकेयः [kaikēyḥ] [केकयानां राजा, अण्] A prince or ruler of the Kekayas.
-यी a. a. A descendant of Kekaya; अश्वपतिर्वै कैकेयः
[Ch. Up.5.11.4;] कैकेयी सुमना नाम शाण्डिलीं पर्यपृच्छत
[Mb.13.123.2.] f. A daughter of the prince of the Kekayas and one (the youngest) of the three wives of king Daśaratha and mother of Bharata. [When Rāma was about to be installed as heir-apparent, she was not less rejoiced than Kausalyā. But she had a very wicked nurse called Mantharā who long owed Rāma a grudge. Finding this to be an excellent opportunity for her revenge, Mantharā so completely perverted the mind of Kaikeyī that she became ready to ask the king, as suggested by her nurse, to grant her the two boons which he had formerly promised to her. By one of these boons she asked for the installation of her son Bharata, and by the other for the banishment of Rāma for fourteen years. Daśaratha, blinded by passion as he was, severely scolded her for her wicked demands, but was at last obliged to yield. On account of this wicked act her name has become proverbial for 'a shrew', or 'Xanthippe']