On Rama having stopped after speaking these pregnant words, the virtuous
Bharata addressed the righteous Rama attached unto his subjects in an
excellent speech on the banks of the Mandakini, saying, "O vanquisher of
foes, who is there in this world like unto thee? Pain doth not afflict
thee, nor doth pleasure exhilarate. Thyself the exemplar of even aged
people, thou referrest to them on doubtful points (of morality). 'Living
like unto dead and existing like unto non-existing'--what shall make a
person that hath attained this intellectual state, grieve? O lord of
men, he that like unto thee understands the nature of the soul and its
environment coming by any calamity, ought not to despond. Thou
resemblest, O Raghava, the god in strength, and art magnanimous, and
truthful in promise! and knowest every thing and art endued with
intelligence. Calamity, however unbearable it may be, should not
overpower a person like thyself furnished with such virtues and
cognizant of life and death. The sin that in my absence from home hath
been perpetrated by my mean-minded mother doth not find favor in my
sight. Be thou therefore propitous to me. I am bound by the fetters of
religion. For this it is that I do not by a severe penalty slay my
wicked mother deserving of chastisement. How having sprung from
Dacaratha of righteous deeds and born of immaculate race, and knowing
virtue and vice, can I commit such a reprehensible action? Dacaratha is
our superior, of meritorious acts, aged our king, a departed spirit, and
our father, it is on account of this that I do not censure our father
who is a deity unto us. O cognizant of virtue, what virtuous person
conversant in morality, should, seeking the pleasure of his wife, commit
such a sinful act devoid of both righteousness and interest? 'Creatures,
as their end approaches, lose their sense' this ancient adage has been
illustrated in the world by the course the king has taken. Do thou,
intent upon bringing about good, redeem the wrong that hath been done by
our sire through anger, ignorance and recklessness. The son that
repaireth the wrong done by his father by acting contrary to the latter
is in this world considered really a son; but not he that acteth
otherwise. Be thou that (real) son (of the monarch). Do thou not approve
the action of thy father, since what he has done is divorced from
righteousness and is blameworthy. Do thou rescue all these-- Kaikeyi,
myself, my father, our friends and adherents, and the whole body of the
citizens as well as the inhabitants of the provinces. Where is the
forest? And where is Kshatriya morality? Where are matted locks? And
where is thy government of the country? It behoves thee not to act in
such an untoward way. Even this is the first duty of a Kshatriya,
viz.,--getting oneself installed,--by means of which, O highly wise one,
he can compass the government of the people. What base Kshatriya setting
aside this indubitable morality, resorts to a dubious and inaupicious
course, which should be followed by the old alone? But if thou be bent
upon practising this austere morality, do thou undergo this trouble,
after having righteously ruled the four orders. O thou cognizant of
morality, those versed in duty say that of the four modes of life, the
life of the householder is the foremost. Why then dost thou wish to
renounce the same? I am inferior to thee in learning, in position, and
in birth. How can I then govern the earth, thou existing? Void of sense
and quality, a boy, and inferior to thee in point of years, I, deprived
of thee, can not live. O thou cognizant of morality, do thou, along with
thy friends, according to thy proper morality rule this entire ancestral
kingdom rid of its thorns and enjoying tranquillity. Even here, O thou
cognizant of the Mantras, let all the subjects and the Ritwijas with
Vasishtha, versed in the Mantras, install thee. Having been installed,
go to Ayodhya, for the purpose of governing it, having with our
assistance conquered thy enemies by thy strength, like Vasava conquering
(his foes) with the help of the Maruts. Having freed thyself from thy
threefold debts, do thou govern me, repressing thy foes, and
propitiating thy friends with every gratification. O noble one, to-day
let thy friends rejoice in consequence of thy coronation. To day let
those that intend to do thee harm, being frightened, fly to the ten
cardinal points. O foremost of men, wiping out the disgrace of my
mother, do thou emancipate our sire from sin. I beseech thee with bent
head. Be thou merciful unto me, unto all our friends, and, O great lord,
unto all creatures in general. But, if disregarding my solicitations,
thou wend from here to the forest, I shall go along with thee." Although
thus besought and propitiated by Bharata with bent head, that lord of
the earth, Rama, possessed of strength, established in the words of his
father, did not decide for going. Witnessing that wonderful firmness in
Raghava, the people were at one and the same time delighted and
depressed. They were aggrieved because he would not go to Ayodhya; they
rejoiced on seeing his firm resolution. Then the Ritwijas, the citizens,
and their leaders, and the mothers with their senses lost and with tears
in their eyes, extolled Bharata as he was speaking thus; and, bowing
down unto Rama, they directed their solicitations together.