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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.15
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 16: Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal. Rāvaṇa’s sister asks Rāma to marry her and threatens to eat Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa so they can roam the forest together
In the sequence: Rāma openly identifies himself, his wife, and his brother, explains the parental command behind his exile, and asks who she is
3.16.15
niyogāt tu narendrasya pitur mātuś ca yantritaḥ
dharmārthaṃ dharmakāṅkṣī ca vanaṃ vastum ihāgataḥ
By the command of the king my father and of my mother, bound (by their order), for the sake of dharma and desiring dharma, I have come here to dwell in the forest.
Words: niyogāt — by command; tu — and; narendrasya — of the king (lord of men); pitur — of (my) father; mātuś ca — and of (my) mother; yantritaḥ — bound, constrained; dharmārthaṃ — for the sake of dharma; dharmakāṅkṣī — desiring dharma; ca — and; vanaṃ — forest; vastum — to dwell; ihāgataḥ — come here
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.