मन्ये प्राप्ताः स्म तं देशं भरद्वाजो यमब्रवीत्।
नातिदूरे हि मन्येऽहं नदीं मन्दाकिनीमितः॥
manye prāptāḥ sma taṁ deśaṁ bharadvājo yam abravīt
nātidūre hi manye ’haṁ nadīṁ mandākinīm itaḥ
manye = I think; prāptāḥ sma = that we have arrived; deśam = at the spot; bharadvājaḥ = Bharadvāja; yam = at the; abravīt = had spoken about; na-atidūre hi = is not far; manye = think; aham = I; nadīm = that the river; mandākinīm = Mandākinī; itaḥ = from our place.
I think that we have arrived at the spot Bharadvāja had spoken about. I think that the river Mandākinī is not far from our place.
1 Out of His natural humility, Bharata couldn’t believe that He was actually about to meet Rāmacandra despite Kaikeyī’s offense to Rāma. She had used Bharata as her pawn without His knowledge, but Bharata considered that He was complicit in the offense.
In the first line, Bharata specifically says, “I think.” This indicates that He thought, “Kaikeyī-devī has addressed Me, ‘O king’ [and so] I am unfortunate. I don’t deserve to arrive at the spot Bharadvāja had spoken about; this must be either a delusion or a dream.”1
Mandākinī was close by.