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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.20.17

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Lakṣmaṇa opposes fate with effort. He offers to overcome every obstacle by force, Rāma wipes away his tears but remains bound to the promise

In the sequence: he proposes sending the plotters into exile instead and preventing Bharata's accession

2.20.17

yair vivāsas tavāraṇye mitho rājan samarthitaḥ
araṇye te vivatsyanti caturdaśa samās tathā

Those by whom your banishment to the forest was contrived in secret, O king—they shall themselves dwell in the forest fourteen years instead.

Words: yair — by whom; vivāsas — banishment, exile; tavāraṇye — in your forest; mitho — mutually, in secret; rājan — O king; samarthitaḥ — contrived, resolved; araṇye — in the forest; te — they; vivatsyanti — shall dwell; caturdaśa — fourteen; samās — years; tathā — so, likewise

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.