Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 47: Rāvaṇa Reveals his Identity to Sītā
Text 3.47.10
मम भर्ता महातेजा वयसा पञ्चविंशकः।
अष्टादश हि वर्षाणि मम जन्मनि गण्यते॥
mama bhartā mahā-tejā vayasā pañca-viṁśakaḥ
aṣṭādaśa hi varṣāṇi mama janmani gaṇyate
mama = [at that time] my; bhartā = husband; mahā-tejāḥ = of great prowess; vayasā = old; pañca-viṁśakaḥ = was twenty-five years; aṣṭādaśa hi = [and] eighteen; varṣāṇi = years had passed; mama = my; janmani gaṇyate = since birth.
[At that time] my husband, whose prowess was great, was twenty-five years old [and] eighteen years had passed since my birth.
1 Since she was not born from a human being, even as a pastime, her becoming a youthful girl in a few years was not considered extraordinary, and therefore her father wanted to get her married then. Marriage is for youths.
Viśvāmitra arrived twelve years after Lord Rāma took birth. Śrī Rāma then lived in the city [of Ayodhyā] with Vaidehī for twelve years after which there was a preparation for His coronation as the heir apparent. So Śrī Rāma was twenty-five years of age when He entered the forest. Then, ten years were spent [by Him] in the āśramas of the sages and three years in Pañcavaṭī. Sītā-devī was kidnapped on the fourteenth year of His residence in the forest.
After Sītā-devī appeared from the earth, she was in Mithilā for six years. Then she was married.1 After her wedding she was in Ayodhyā for twelve years. Thus she was eighteen years of age when they were exiled to the forest.
While she spoke to Rāvaṇa when he was in disguise, Lord Rāma was thirty-eight years old and Sītā-devī was thirty-one years old.
The bha in bhartā is the ninth letter of the Gāyatrī. We have now passed through 8,000 verses.