कच्चिन्नोग्रेण दण्डेन भृशमुद्वेजितप्रजम्।
राष्ट्रं तवानुजानन्ति मन्त्रिणः कैकयीसुत॥
kaccin nogreṇa daṇḍena bhṛśam udvejita-prajam
rāṣṭraṁ tavānujānanti mantriṇaḥ kaikayī-suta
kaccit = I hope; na = do not; ugreṇa = cruel; daṇḍena = due to punishments; bhṛśam = extremely; udvejita-prajam = to become filled with citizens agitated; rāṣṭram = the kingdom; tava = Your; anujānanti = allow; mantriṇaḥ = the ministers; kaikayī-suta = O son of Kaikeyī.
O son of Kaikeyī, I hope the ministers do not allow the kingdom to become filled with citizens agitated due to Your extremely cruel punishments.
1 In scriptural monarchy, the ruler can’t do whatever he wants. There are well-defined scriptural boundaries. A king is meant to be a father of the citizens of his kingdom. Just as a dhārmika father does not cruelly punish his children but affectionately reforms them, so does a dhārmika king.
Rāma wanted to know if the ministers restrained Bharata from meting out [extremely] cruel punishments [to the citizens].1