Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 96: Lakṣmaṇa Notices Bharata’s Army
Text 2.96.25

भरतस्य वधे दोषं नाहं पश्यामि राघव।
पूर्वापकारिणां त्यागे न ह्यधर्मो विधीयते॥

bharatasya vadhe doṣaṁ nāhaṁ paśyāmi rāghava
pūrvāpakāriṇāṁ tyāge na hy adharmo vidhīyate

bharatasya vadhe = in killing Bharata; doṣam = anything wrong; na = don’t; aham = I; paśyāmi = see; rāghava = Rāghava; pūrva-apakāriṇām tyāge = killing those who have formerly inflicted harm; na hi = not; adharmaḥ = as adharma; vidhīyate = is ordained.

Rāghava, I don’t see anything wrong in killing Bharata. Killing those who have formerly inflicted harm is not ordained as adharma.1


 

1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: tyāge vadhe.