Canto 2: Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa ()Chapter 55: Rāma Leaves Bharadvāja’s Āśrama and Crosses the YamunāText 2.55.27
Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 55: Rāma Leaves Bharadvāja’s Āśrama and Crosses the Yamunā
Text 2.55.27
सीतामादाय गच्छ त्वमग्रतो भरताग्रज।
पृष्ठतोऽहं गमिष्यामि सायुधो द्विपदां वर॥
sītām ādāya gaccha tvam agrato bharatāgraja
pṛṣṭhato ’haṁ gamiṣyāmi sāyudho dvipadāṁ vara
sītām ādāya = ahead of Sītā; gaccha tvam = go; agrataḥ = in the front; bharata-agraja = O younger brother of Bharata; pṛṣṭhataḥ = behind [her]; aham = I; gamiṣyāmi = will follow; sa-āyudhaḥ = with [My] weapons; dvipadām = of men; vara = O best.
O younger brother of Bharata, O best of men, go ahead of Sītā, in the front. I will follow behind [her] with [My] weapons.
1 Lakṣmaṇa was younger to Bharata in terms of the sequence of the eating of pāyasa by Their mothers, as noted in the First Canto of Rāmāyaṇa.
Bharatāgraja is a bahuvrīhi compound [and so is an address to one whose elder brother is Bharata, not one who is the elder brother of Bharata].1