तेषां हि वचनं श्रुत्वा वसिष्ठः प्रत्युवाच ह।
मित्रामात्यगणान्सर्वान्ब्राह्मणांस्तानिदं वचः॥
teṣāṁ hi vacanaṁ śrutvā vasiṣṭhaḥ pratyuvāca ha
mitrāmātya-gaṇān sarvān brāhmaṇāṁs tān idaṁ vacaḥ
teṣām hi = their; vacanam = words; śrutvā = having heard; vasiṣṭhaḥ = Vasiṣṭha; pratyuvāca ha = replied; mitra-āmātya-gaṇān = of the ministers who were his friends; sarvān = to all; brāhmaṇān tān = and the brāhmaṇas; idam vacaḥ = with the following words.
Having heard their words Vasiṣṭha replied to all of the ministers, who were his friends, and the brāhmaṇas with the following words.
1 Note that Sumantra is not a brāhmaṇa by birth. He is referred to in the Ramayana often as a sutā, “charioteer”. And yet, Vasiṣṭha, the best of the brahmanas, considered Sumantra and other ministers as his friends. In the pure form of varṇāśrama dharma there is no oppression of those born in lower castes by those born in higher castes. Usually the duty of the father is to train his sons in the same varṇa to which he belongs. This is known as jāti-dharma. But in Kali-yuga, jāti-dharma is not observed and therefore everything becomes corrupted into a chaotic mess.
The ministers were headed by Sumantra and the brāhmaṇas were headed by Mārkaṇḍeya.1