Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 40: Rāma Departs from Ayodhyā
Text 2.40.13
चतुर्दश हि वर्षाणि वस्तव्यानि वने त्वया।
तान्युपक्रमितव्यानि यानि देव्यासि चोदितः॥
caturdaśa hi varṣāṇi vastavyāni vane tvayā
tāny upakramitavyāni yāni devyāsi coditaḥ
caturdaśa = fourteen; hi = because; varṣāṇi = years; vastavyāni = are meant to be spent while residing; vane = in the forest; tvayā = You; tāni = those; upakramitavyāni = should spend; yāni = that; devyā = Queen Kaikeyī; asi coditaḥ = has ordered You.
Because Queen Kaikeyī has ordered You, You should spend those fourteen years that are meant to be spent while residing in the forest.
Sumantra now hurries Rāma by considering that even to pass one day of the fourteen years [in the forest] would be greatly profitable. Queen Kaikeyī had instructed that Rāma depart that very day.