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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.97.23

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 97: Bharata offers Rāma the Kingdom. Rāma absolves him of blame but insists that both brothers honour their father’s division between Kingdom and forest

In the sequence: in his view, Daśaratha assigned Bharata Ayodhyā and himself the forest, and each must now fulfill that assignment → he values keeping it above any Kingdom.

2.97.23

caturdaśa samāḥ saumya daṇḍakāraṇyam āśritaḥ
upabhokṣye tv ahaṃ dattaṃ bhāgaṃ pitrā mahātmanā

For fourteen years, gentle one, dwelling in the Daṇḍaka forest, I shall enjoy the share given by my great-souled father.

Words: caturdaśa — fourteen; samāḥ — years; saumya — O gentle one; daṇḍakāraṇyam — the Daṇḍaka forest; āśritaḥ — having resorted to, dwelling in; upabhokṣye — I shall enjoy; tv ahaṃ — but I; dattaṃ — given; bhāgaṃ — the share; pitrā — by the father; mahātmanā — great-souled

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.