Mahabharata 3.261.26

3.261.26

sa tadrājā vacaḥ śrutvā vipriyaṃ dāruṇodayam |
duḥkhārto bharataśreṣṭha na kiṃcidvyājahāra ha || 26 ||

Tell me quickly, O blessed lady, what that object is upon which thou hast set thy heart!' Hearing these words of the king, and tying him fast to his pledge, and conscious also of her power over him, she addressed him in these words, 'I desire that Bharata be the recipient of that investiture which thou hast designed for Rama, and let Rama go into exile living in the forest of Dandaka for fourteen years as an ascetic with matted locks on head and robed in rags and deer-skins!' Hearing these disagreeable words of cruel import, the king, O chief of the Bharata race, was sorely afflicted and became utterly speechless! But the mighty and virtuous Rama, learning that his father had been thus solicited, went into the forest so that the king's truth might remain inviolate. And, blessed be thou, he was followed by the auspicious Lakshmana--that foremost of bowmen and his wife Sita, the princess of Videha and daughter of Janaka. And after Rama had gone into the forest, king Dasaratha took leave of his body, agreeably to the eternal law of time. And knowing that Rama not near and that the king was dead, queen Kaikeyi, causing Bharata to be brought before her, addressed him in these words, 'Dasaratha hath gone to heaven and both Rama and Lakshmana are in the forest! Take thou this kingdom which is so extensive and whose peace there is no rival to disturb'.