Shloka 2.77.18
और्ध्वदैहिकक्रिया-शोकविलापः (Obsequies for Daśaratha and the Brothers’ Lament)
हीनो भ्रात्रा च पित्रा च शून्यामिक्ष्वाकुपालिताम्।।।।अयोध्यां न प्रवेक्ष्यामि प्रवेक्ष्यामि तपोवनम्।
pitari svargamāpanne rāme cāraṇyamāśrite | kiṃ me jīvitasāmarthyaṃ pravekṣyāmi hutāśanam ||
With my father gone to heaven and Rāma taking refuge in the forest, what strength have I to go on living? I will enter the consuming fire.
Devoid of my father and brother, I will not return to empty Ayodhya that was once ruled by the Ikshvakus. I will enter the grove of asceticism .
It highlights the dharmic weight of family bonds and kingship succession; Bharata’s despair shows how deeply duty and loss are intertwined, even when self-harm is not endorsed as dharma.
Bharata, overwhelmed by Daśaratha’s death and Rāma’s exile, expresses suicidal intent in grief.
Bharata’s intense loyalty and attachment to righteous order—his life feels purposeless without father and elder brother.