Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 97: Rāma Instructs Lakṣmaṇa
Text 2.97.23

इमां वाप्येष वैदेहीमत्यन्तसुखसेविनीम्।
पिता मे राघवः श्रीमान्वनादादाय यास्यति॥

imāṁ vāpy eṣa vaidehīm atyanta-sukha-sevinīm
pitā me rāghavaḥ śrīmān vanād ādāya yāsyati

imām = this; api = or; eṣaḥ = here; vaidehīm = princess of Videha; atyanta-sukha-sevinīm = [for] she is brought up in extreme comfort; pitā = father; me = My; rāghavaḥ = descendant of Raghu; śrīmān = as the prosperous; vanāt = from the forest; ādāya yāsyati = will take back.

“Or My father here as the prosperous descendant of Raghu will take back this princess of Videha from the forest [for] she is brought up in extreme comfort.1

Because Sītā-devī was brought up in extreme comfort, [Rāma thought that] Daśaratha would want to only take her [back to Ayodhyā].1

1 Rāma and His brothers had passed through Their guru-kula-vāsa—They had been trained as brahmacārīs in austerity. But Sītā-devī was in comfort all along in her father’s palace. Lord Rāmacandra correctly considered that His father would not be able to tolerate Sītā-devī’s residence in the forest. It is a fact that Daśaratha greatly lamented her being in the forest.

1 Because Sītā-devī was brought up in extreme comfort, Rāma thought, Daśaratha would want to take her back to Ayodhyā, letting Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa be in the forest.