SECTION CVI.
On Rāma having stopped after speaking these pregnant words, the virtuous Bharata addressed the righteous Rāma attached unto his subjects in an excellent speech on the banks of the Mandākini, 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 Rāghava, 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 Daçarātha of righteous deeds and born of immaculate race, and knowing virtue and vice, can I commit such a reprehensible action? Daçarātha 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 Ayodhyā, for the purpose of governing it, having with our assistance conquered thy enemies by thy strength, like Vāsava 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, Rāma, possessed of strength, established in the words of his father, did not decide for going. Witnessing that wonderful firmness in Rāghava, the people were at one and the same time delighted and depressed. They were aggrieved because he would not go to Ayodhyā; 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 Rāma, they directed their solicitations together.