Shloka 2.12.22
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
तस्य धर्मात्मनो देवि वनवासं यशस्विनः।कथं रोचयसे भीरु नव वर्षाणि पञ्च च।।।।
tasya dharmātmano devi vanavāsaṃ yaśasvinaḥ | kathaṃ rocayase bhīru nava varṣāṇi pañca ca ||
O queen—how can you desire that Rāma, righteous in soul and illustrious, should live in the forest for fourteen years?
O lady how do you wish this righteous and illustrious Rama to dwell in the forest for fourteen years?
The verse invokes dharma as moral fitness: it is wrong to impose severe suffering on a righteous person without just cause.
Kaikeyī has demanded Rāma’s banishment for fourteen years; Daśaratha protests, highlighting Rāma’s righteousness and fame.
Rāma’s dharmic character (dharmātman) and honorable reputation (yaśas) are foregrounded as reasons such treatment is unjust.