Shloka 2.12.95
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
हन्तानार्ये ममामित्रे सकामा भव कैकयि।।2.12.94।।मृते मयि गते रामे वनं पुरुषपुङ्गवे।सेदानीं विधवा राज्यं सपुत्रा कारयिष्यसि।।2.12.95।।
mṛte mayi gate rāme vanaṃ puruṣapuṅgave, se’dānīṃ vidhavā rājyaṃ saputrā kārayiṣyasi.
When I am dead, and when Rāma—the foremost of men—has gone to the forest, then you, a widow, will rule the kingdom together with your son.
O my enemy, O wicked Kaikeyi, after Rama, the foremost of men, has left for the forest your desires will be fulfilled. And after my death, you as a widow along with your son will rule the kingdom.
It highlights how adharma in succession harms the whole polity: personal ambition can overturn righteous kingship and bring grief and moral disorder.
Daśaratha foresees his own death from sorrow and imagines Kaikeyī governing after sending Rāma into exile.
Rāma’s implied excellence (puruṣapuṅgava) underscores the virtue of the rightful heir—fitness to rule grounded in dharma.