एवमुक्तास्तु ते दूता भरतेन महात्मना।
ऊचुः सप्रश्रयं वाक्यमिदं तं भरतं तदा॥
evam uktās tu te dutā bharatena mahātmanā
ūcuḥ sapraśrayaṁ vākyam idaṁ taṁ bharataṁ tadā
evam = thus; uktāḥ tu = spoke; te = they; dutāḥ = to the messengers; bharatena = Bharata; mahā-ātmanā = when the greatly intelligent; ūcuḥ = spoke; sapraśrayam = of humility; vākyam = words; idam = the following; tam bharatam = to Bharata; tadā = immediately.
When the greatly intelligent Bharata thus spoke to the messengers, they immediately spoke the following words of humility to Bharata.
1 They were humble out of respect for the departed King Daśaratha. See the commentary to text 2.68.22.
2 Had they delayed in replying, Bharata might think that something has gone wrong in Ayodhyā. But the great sage Vasiṣṭha had explicitly instructed them to not reveal the untoward events that had taken place.
That Bharata was greatly intelligent indicates that he sensed that [certain untoward] events had occurred in Ayodhyā. That the messengers spoke with humility indicates that they fully concealed the news of such events.1 They immediately replied to Bharata because they thought that even if they slightly delay their reply, Bharata might think otherwise.2