Then spoke Vasishtha the priest of the house of Raghu in terms appropriate to the occasion, the assembly and the principles of righteousness. He reproduced the conversation of Janaka and Bharata, eloquently recounting all that Bharata and nobly urged.

‘Dear Rama,’ he said, ‘everyone will obey whatever command you may give; this is my conclusion.’ Upon this Raghunatha folded his hands and in gentle accents spoke words which were true and guileless:

‘In the presence of yourself, sir, and the lord of Mithila, for me to speak is altogether unseemly. whatever command you and the king may be pleased to give, by yourself I swear that it will be truly acceptable to all.

On hearing Rama’s oath the sage and Janaka and the whole assembly were disconcerted. Unable to make reply, they all fixed their eyes on Bharata’s face.

When Bharata saw the assembly confounded, he, Rama’s brother, exercised great self-restraint and realizing the unfitness of the time, he subdued his emotion even as the jar-born sage Agastya had arrested the growth of the Vindhya range. (He had compelled the Vindhya mountains to bow down before him; and when once down, they were never able to rear themselves again.)

Grief carried away the judgement of the whole assembly, as Hiranyaksha carried away the earth, but from Bharata’s spotless perfections, as from Brahma, sprang forth discernment like the mighty Board and effortlessly wrought its deliverance. (It was when grief carried away the assembly’s judgement, that from Bharata’s noble perfections, as from the womb of the universe, came forth the Boar of discretion and wrought immediate deliverance. The allusion is to the third avatara, when Vishnu in the form of a Boar rescued the earth, which had been seized by the demon Hiranyaksha and carried off into the depths of the ocean.)

With folded hands Bharata bowed to all and with humble supplications said to Rama, the king, the guru and other holy men present there: ‘Pardon me if today I act most unbecomingly and with my feeble lips utter biting words.’