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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.17.15

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 17: Kausalyā learns of Rāma’s exile. Rāma tells Kausalyā that Bharata will inherit and he must leave, she collapses and laments their separation

In the sequence: he tells her that Bharata will be heir and that he himself must live for fourteen years in Daṇḍaka; he says he will give up meat and live like a muni on honey, roots, and fruit

2.17.15

caturdaśa hi varṣāṇi vatsyāmi vijane vane
madhumūlaphalair jīvan hitvā munivad āmiṣam

For fourteen years I shall dwell in a lonely forest, living on honey, roots, and fruits, giving up meat like a sage.

Words: caturdaśa — fourteen; hi — for; varṣāṇi — years; vatsyāmi — I shall dwell; vijane — in a lonely (place); vane — in the forest; madhumūlaphalair — on honey, roots, and fruits; jīvan — living; hitvā — having given up; munivad — like a sage; āmiṣam — meat

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.