Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 17: Śūrpaṇakhā Meets Rāma
Text 3.17.18

नियोगात्तु नरेन्द्रस्य पितुर्मातुश्च यन्त्रितः।
धर्मार्थं धर्मकाङ्क्षी च वनं वस्तुमिहागतः॥

niyogāt tu narendrasya pitur mātuś ca yantritaḥ
dharmārthaṁ dharma-kāṅkṣī ca vanaṁ vastum ihāgataḥ

niyogāt tu = ordered; nara-indrasya = King [Daśaratha]; pituḥ = by My father; mātuḥ = by My mother; ca = and; yantritaḥ = I have been constrained; dharma-artham = for the sake of perfecting the dharma of asceticism; dharma-kāṅkṣī = with the desire to carry out My dharma; ca = and; vanam = in a forest; vastum = to reside; iha = here; āgataḥ = [therefore] I have come.

Ordered by My father King [Daśaratha] and by My mother, I have been constrained to reside in a forest. [Therefore] I have come here with the desire to carry out My dharma and for the sake of perfecting the dharma of asceticism.1

Daśaratha was constrained by Kaikeyī’s request. Rāma wanted to carry out His dharma of obedience to His father’s instructions.

1 Rāmacandra did this by demonstrating how to strictly follow the dharma of a tapasvī.