Shloka 2.12.73
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
वैदेही बत मे प्राणान्शोचन्ती क्षपयिष्यति।।।।हीना हिमवतः पार्श्वे किन्नरेणेव किन्नरी।
na hi rāmam ahaṃ dṛṣṭvā pravasantaṃ mahā-vane,
ciraṃ jīvitum āśaṃse rudantīṃ cāpi maithilīm.
Indeed, having seen Rāma living away in the great forest—and Maithilī weeping—I do not expect to live long.
What a pity Vaidehi, lamenting like a Kinnari forsaken by a Kinnara on the Himalayan slopes, will cause death to me.
The verse shows how adharma fractures the moral heart of a household and ruler: when the righteous are made to suffer, the elder who should protect them experiences self-consuming remorse.
Daśaratha, overwhelmed, declares that witnessing Rāma’s forest life and Sītā’s tears will shorten his own life.
Paternal devotion and moral responsibility: Daśaratha’s identity as protector collapses under the pain of failing Rāma and Sītā.