Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 20: Kausalyā’s Lamentation
Text 2.20.45
दश सप्त च वर्षाणि तव जातस्य राघव।
आसितानि प्रकाङ्क्षन्त्या मया दुःखपरिक्षयम्॥
daśa sapta ca varṣāṇi tava jātasya rāghava
āsitāni prakāṅkṣantyā mayā duḥkha-parikṣayam
daśa sapta = seventeen; ca = more than; varṣāṇi = years; tava = Your; jātasya = since birth; rāghava = O Rāghava; āsitāni = have passed in happiness; prakāṅkṣantyā = while waiting; mayā = I; duḥkha-parikṣayam = for an end to my distresses.
O Rāghava, I have passed more than seventeen years in happiness since Your birth while waiting for an end to my distresses.1
1 This translation is based on the commentator’s final explanation to this verse in his commentary on text 1.20.2.
Kausalyā had waited for Rāma’s coronation that would put an end to her distresses.
Sītā-devī will state later on:
mama bhartā mahā-tejā vayasā pañca-viṁśakaḥ
aṣṭādaśa hi varṣāṇi mama janma nigaṇyate.
“[When He was refused the coronation,] My husband of great prowess was twenty-five years old, and eighteen years had passed since my birth.” (Rāmāyaṇa 3.47.10)