He is my younger brother, and therefore my mind recoils when I proceed to praise him to his face. It will be best for us to do whatever Bharata proposes.’ Having so said, Rama remained silent.

Then the sage said to Bharata, ‘Put aside all scruple, my son, and tell your dear brother, the ocean of grace, what is there in your heart.’

When Bharata head the sage’s words and knew what was in Rama’s mind, he was fully satisfied that both his guru and his master were exceedingly propitious to him; but seeing the weight of the whole business put upon his head, he could say nothing and remained lost in thought.

Then trembling with emotion, the stood up in the assembly with tears of love gushing forth from his lotus eyes. ‘The lord of sages,’ he said, ‘has already spoken for me: what more is there for me to say?

I know my master’s disposition; he is never wroth even with the guilty; to me he has been particularly kind and affectionate. Never even in play did he give me an angry look.

From my infancy I have never left his company, and at no time has he hurt my feelings. I have experienced in my heart my lord’s gracious ways for even when I was losing in a game he would allow me to win.

My affection and modesty have ever constrained me not to open my lips before him; to this day my eyes, that have been thirsting for his love, have not been satiated with looking upon him.