Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 18: Kaikeyī Informs Rāma About the two Boons
Text 2.18.35
सन्निदेशे पितुस्तिष्ठ यथानेन प्रतिश्रुतम्।
त्वयारण्यं प्रवेष्टव्यं नव वर्षाणि पञ्च च॥
sannideśe pitus tiṣṭha yathānena pratiśrutam
tvayāraṇyaṁ praveṣṭavyaṁ nava varṣāṇi pañca ca
sannideśe = order; pituḥ = Your father’s; tiṣṭha = obey; yathā = according; anena pratiśrutam = to his promise [to me] tvayā1 araṇyam = the forest; praveṣṭavyam = enter; nava varṣāṇi pañca ca = for fourteen years.
Obey Your father’s order according to his promise [to me]. Enter the forest for fourteen years.
1 Technical note: tvayā praveṣṭavyam.
GLOSS. Instead of following the royal custom of sending a person to the forest for twelve years, twenty-four years and so on, Kaikeyī instructs Rāma to go to the forest for fourteen years because Rāvaṇa had only fourteen years of life left. Had she instructed Him to depart to the forest for twelve years, He would have had to come back without killing Rāvaṇa and so on. Had she instructed Him to leave for more than fourteen years, His residence in the forest would have been whimsical [and pointless]. Therefore, it should be understood that the Lord had her mention “fourteen years.”