Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 31: Rāma Allows Lakṣmaṇa to Follow Him to the Forest
Text 2.31.12
अभिवर्षति कामैर्यः पर्जन्यः पृथिवीमिव।
स कामपाशपर्यस्तो महातेजा महीपतिः॥
abhivarṣati kāmair yaḥ parjanyaḥ pṛthivīm iva
sa kāma-pāśa-paryasto mahā-tejā mahī-patiḥ
abhivarṣati = showers; kāmaiḥ = the desirables; yaḥ = who; parjanyaḥ = the cloud; pṛthivīm = upon the land; iva = like; saḥ = the; kāma-pāśa-paryastaḥ = is [now] bound by the noose of someone else’s ambitions; mahā-tejā = of great prowess; mahī-patiḥ = king.
The king of great prowess who showers the desirables like the cloud upon the land is [now] bound by the noose of someone else’s ambitions.
So Lakṣmaṇa cannot argue that King Daśaratha himself can take care of those two queens.
Then can’t Bharata take care of them? Anticipating this question, Rāma informs Him that under the control of Kaikeyī, Bharata too wouldn’t maintain them.