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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.66.13

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

2.66.13

pitur grahīṣye caraṇau taṃ mamākhyāhi pṛcchataḥ
āhosvid amba jyeṣṭhāyāḥ kausalyāyā niveśane

“I would clasp my father's feet — point him out to me who ask; or is he, mother, in the chambers of the eldest, Kausalyā?”

Words: pitur — of my father; grahīṣye — I will grasp; caraṇau — the two feet; taṃ — him; mamākhyāhi — tell me; pṛcchataḥ — to me who ask; āhosvid — or perhaps; amba — O mother; jyeṣṭhāyāḥ — of the eldest; kausalyāyā — of Kausalyā; niveśane — in the chamber

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.