राज्ञस्तु प्रकृतीः सर्वाः समग्राः प्रेक्ष्य धर्मवित्।
इदं पुरोहितो वाक्यं भरतं मृदु चाब्रवीत्॥
rājñas tu prakṛtīḥ sarvāḥ samagrāḥ prekṣya dharmavit
idaṁ purohito vākyaṁ bharataṁ mṛdu cābravīt
rājñaḥ tu = the king’s; prakṛtīḥ = subjects; sarvāḥ = all of; samagrāḥ = had gathered together; prekṣya = observing that; dharmavit = who knew dharma; idam = the following; purohitaḥ = the royal priest; vākyam = words; bharatam = to Bharata; mṛdu ca = softly; abravīt = spoke.
Observing that all of the king’s subjects had gathered together, the royal priest who knew dharma softly spoke the following words to Bharata.
1 Vasiṣṭha wanted to convince Bharata in the presence of the representative subjects that He should sit on the throne. Notice that dhārmika kings in the Rāmāyaṇa had no desire to sit on the throne by making unilateral decisions. The king is meant to work together with his subjects for their good and for this he has to take them into confidence. Vasiṣṭha, as the royal priest, also wanted the support of the citizens in order to make Bharata the king but Bharata considered that the citizens would be better taken care of by Rāma. The basic principle was that the citizens were children who had to be lovingly taken care of by a dhārmika king, that is, a king who was sufficiently trained, protective, self-disciplined and submissive to genuine brāhmaṇas.
Vasiṣṭha observed [that all of the subjects had gathered together] so that he could initiate a discussion.1