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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.66.11

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 66: Kaikeyī’s disclosure. Bharata learns that Daśaratha died calling for the exiles, Kaikeyī admits arranging Rāma’s banishment and urges him to claim the throne

In the sequence: he asks where his father is and why the palace seems so joyless → Kaikeyī tells him that Daśaratha has died

2.66.11

śūnyo 'yaṃ śayanīyas te paryaṅko hemabhūṣitaḥ
na cāyam ikṣvākujanaḥ prahṛṣṭaḥ pratibhāti me

“Empty is this couch of yours, this gold-adorned bedstead; and these people of the Ikṣvākus do not appear to me glad.”

Words: śūnyo — empty; 'yaṃ — this; śayanīyas — couch; te — your; paryaṅko — bedstead; hemabhūṣitaḥ — gold-adorned; na cāyam — and this ... not; ikṣvākujanaḥ — the Ikṣvāku folk; prahṛṣṭaḥ — joyful; pratibhāti — appears; me — to me

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.