Shloka 2.11.25
कैकेयीवरप्रार्थना — Kaikeyi Demands the Two Boons
यो द्वितीयो वरो देव दत्तः प्रीतेन मे त्वया।।।।तदा दैवासुरे युद्धे तस्य कालोऽयमागत।
yo dvitīyo varo deva dattaḥ prītena me tvayā | tadā daivāsure yuddhe tasya kālo 'yam āgataḥ ||
And the second boon, O King, which you granted me in your pleasure during that war between gods and asuras—its time to be enacted has now arrived.
Then in the war between gods and asuras, O lord!, pleased with me you havepromised a second boon and the time has come to grant it.
A pledged boon is treated as morally time-bound: once the claimant invokes it, dharma demands fulfillment—regardless of the personal cost to the promiser.
Kaikeyī transitions from the first boon (Bharata’s coronation) to the second, asserting that the moment has come to enforce it.
Daśaratha’s reliability (satya and promise-keeping) is the central virtue under pressure, as Kaikeyī frames the boon as now due.