Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 73, Shloka 2
भरतस्य कैकेय्याः प्रति धिक्कारः
Bharata’s Rebuke of Kaikeyi and Affirmation of Ikshvaku Royal Dharma
किं नु कार्यं हतस्येह मम राज्येन शोचतः।विहीनस्याथ पित्रा च भ्रात्रा पितृसमेन च।।।।
kiṃ nu kāryaṃ hatasyeha mama rājyena śocataḥ |
vihīnasya atha pitrā ca bhrātrā pitṛsamena ca ||
Bereft of my father and of my brother—who was like a father to me—what use is this kingdom to me now, when I am stricken by calamity and overwhelmed with grief?
Had Rama not treated you as his own mother I would not have the slightest hesitation to renounce you, a lady of sinful disposition.
FAQs
Bharata rejects power divorced from righteousness and family duty; kingship has meaning only when aligned with dharma and the well-being of the rightful order.
After Daśaratha’s death and Rāma’s exile, Bharata confronts Kaikeyī, expressing that the kingdom is worthless to him amid this unjust rupture.
Detachment from self-serving power and fidelity to rightful familial and moral order (dharma-niṣṭhā).