अथ जिज्ञाससे मां त्वं भरतस्य प्रियाप्रिये।
अस्तु यत्त्वया पूर्वं व्याहृतं राघवं प्रति॥
स मे ज्येष्ठः सुतः श्रीमान्धर्मज्येष्ठ इतीव मे।
तत्त्वया प्रियवादिन्या सेवार्थं कथितं भवेत्॥
atha jijñāsase māṁ tvaṁ bharatasya priyāpriye
astu yat tvayā pūrvaṁ vyāhṛtaṁ rāghavaṁ prati
sa me jyeṣṭhaḥ sutaḥ śrīmān dharma-jyeṣṭha itīva me
tat tvayā priya-vādinyā sevārthaṁ kathitaṁ bhavet
atha jijñāsase = do want to know whether; mām = I; tvam = you; bharatasya = Bharata; priya-apriye = love or not; astu = let it be so; yat tvayā pūrvam = when you previously; vyāhṛtam = spoke; rāghavam = Rāghava; prati = about; saḥ = He; me = is my; jyeṣṭhaḥ = eldest; sutaḥ = son; śrīmān = He is prosperous; dharma-jyeṣṭhaḥ iti = and the best in terms of dharma; iva = in words such as; me = to me; tat = them; tvayā = you; priya-vādinyā = as a sweet talker; sevā-artham = just to get things done; kathitam = have spoken; bhavet = would.
Do you want to know whether I love Bharata or not? Let it be so. When you previously spoke about Rāghava to me in words such as, “He is my eldest son,” “He is prosperous and the best in terms of dharma,” you, as a sweet talker, would have spoken them just to get things done.
1 Prior to Mantharā’s poisoning Kaikeyī’s mind, Kaikeyī was absolutely convinced that it was Rāma, not Bharata, who should be coronated as the crown prince. Therefore, when Mantharā informed her of the preparations for the same, she was delighted and even argued in favor of it. Similarly, she had spoken to Daśaratha favorably about Rāma in the past. Her current demand that Rāma be banished was in stark opposition to all of her earlier statements to Daśaratha about Rāma.
By “Let it be so,” Daśaratha intends to tell Kaikeyī, “It would be appropriate for you to say, ‘Bharata should be coronated.’”
Sevārtham. Daśaratha thinks that Kaikeyī’s statements about Rāghava would have been just to get things done, that is, to delight his mind or else to make Rāma engage in her service, for they [would otherwise] contradict her [current] demand that Rāma be banished.
Even if she wanted to test his love for Bharata, she could have just told him to coronate Bharata. She wouldn’t have had to tell him to banish Rāma because that contradicted her earlier statements about Rāma.1