Shloka 2.73.18
भरतस्य कैकेय्याः प्रति धिक्कारः — Bharata’s Rebuke of Kaikeyi and Affirmation of Ikshvaku Royal Dharma
न मे विकाङ्क्षा जायेत त्यक्तुं त्वां पापनिश्चयाम्।यदि रामस्य नावेक्षा त्वयि स्यान्मातृवत्सदा।।।।
kiṃ nu kāryaṃ hatasyeha mama rājyena śocataḥ |
vihīnasya atha pitrā ca bhrātrā pitṛsamena ca ||
What use is this kingdom to me now, when calamity has struck and grief overwhelms me—bereft of my father and of my brother, who was like a father to me?
Had Rama not treated you as his own mother I would not have the slightest hesitation to renounce you, a lady of sinful disposition.
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).