Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 84: Guha Meets Bharata
Text 2.84.3
यथा तु खलु दुर्बुद्धिर्भरतः स्वयमागतः।
स एष हि महाकायः कोविदारध्वजो रथे॥
yathā tu khalu durbuddhir bharataḥ svayam āgataḥ
sa eṣa hi mahā-kāyaḥ kovidāra-dhvajo rathe
yathā tu khalu = certainly; durbuddhiḥ = the unintelligent; bharataḥ = Bharata; svayam = personally; āgataḥ = has arrived here; saḥ = is that; eṣaḥ = here; hi = because; mahā-kāyaḥ = large-sized; kovidāra-dhvajaḥ = flag depicting the kovidāra tree; rathe = on his chariot.
“The unintelligent Bharata has certainly arrived here personally because here is that large-sized flag depicting the kovidāra tree on his chariot.1
1 Kovidāra is said to be Bauhinia variegata, commonly referred to as the mountain ebony.
That flag refers to the one that has been passed from one generation to another in the dynasty of Ikṣvāku. On the basis of Guha’s references to “the flag depicting the kovidāra tree” and “the unintelligent Bharata,” it is inferred that he was apprehensive that Bharata had arrived to harm Rāma. He affirms this in the next verse.