Shloka 2.12.107
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
विनाशकामामहिताममित्रामावासयं मृत्युमिवात्मनस्त्वाम्।चिरं बताङ्केन धृतासि सर्पी महाविषा तेन हतोऽस्मि मोहात्।।।।
vinā ’pi sūryeṇa bhavet pravṛttir avarṣatā vajradhareṇa vā ’pi |
rāmaṃ tu gacchantam itaḥ samīkṣya jīven na kaścit tv iti cetanā me ||
Even if the world’s activity could somehow continue without the sun, or even if Indra, wielder of the thunderbolt, withheld the rains—no one, I am convinced, would live on after seeing Rāma depart from here.
Alas I carried all along on my lap a highly poisonous female snake I gave you shelter while you were like death .This delusion is the cause of my ruin.You were my enemy. You wished me harm. You wished my destruction.
It underscores the moral weight of a righteous heir: Rāma’s departure is portrayed as a civilizational loss, implying that dharmic leadership sustains society as surely as cosmic forces do.
Daśaratha, devastated by Kaikeyī’s demand that Rāma be exiled, expresses that life itself seems impossible if he must witness Rāma leaving Ayodhyā.
Rāma’s perceived indispensability as a dharmic presence—his virtue is so central that Daśaratha equates his loss with cosmic collapse.