After Rama departed into exile, Dasharatha was grief-stricken, unable to leave his bed.
"There was a boy," he said in his delirium, remembering the boy he had shot, the son of the blind parents. "All my fault."
Staring at nothing Dasharatha repeated, "Rama. Rama. Rama."
Sitting by Dasharatha's bedside through the night, Sumitra and Kaushalya fell asleep. In the morning, they saw that the king was dead.
All Ayodhya was plunged into grief.
The priests put the king's body in a vat of oil, and they sent news to Bharata and Shatrughna who were at their grandfather's house in Kekaya.
Inspired by: Valmiki's Ramayana
Notes: This is from the Ayodhya Kanda (Book 2), sarga 65.
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