सान्त्विता मामिका माता दत्तं राज्यमिदं मम।
तद्ददामि तवैवाहं भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यमकण्टकम्॥
sāntvitā māmikā mātā dattaṁ rājyam idaṁ mama
tad dadāmi tavaivāhaṁ bhuṅkṣva rājyam akaṇṭakam
sāntvitā = is now satisfied that; māmikā = My; mātā = mother; dattam = has been given; rājyam = kingdom; idam = this; mama = to Me; tat = it; dadāmi = giving; tava eva = to You; aham = I am now; bhuṅkṣva = enjoy; rājyam = it; akaṇṭakam = bereft of thorns.
My mother is now pacified that this kingdom has been given to me. I am now giving it, bereft of thorns, to You. Enjoy it.
1 This verse is found in two different places in Mahābhārata (1.77.22 and 5.33.57). The money earned by a man’s wife or servant or son belongs to that man because his wife, servant and son belong to him.
2 One might ask how it was possible for Bharata to consider a statement seen in the Mahābhārata since the Rāmāyaṇa was composed after Sītā-devī was banished to the forest while the Mahābhārata was written by Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vedavyāsa who appeared in a later yuga. The answer to this question is that the Mahābhārata itself has merely repackaged the eternal teachings of the Vedic scriptures and not taught anything new or different from what has always been part of Vedic knowledge. Bhārata-vyapadeśenāmnāyārthaḥ pradarśitaḥ: “[Vyāsadeva said:] I have shown the import of the Vedic disciplic succession through the Mahābhārata.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.4.29)
Bharata spoke this while thinking, “Rāma would not accept [the kingdom] while defying His mother [Kaikeyī].”
traya evādhanā rājan bhāryā dāsas tathā sutaḥ
yat te samadhigacchanti yasya te tasya tad dhanam
“O king, these three—a wife, a servant and a son—are not entitled to their own wealth. Whatever they earn belongs to whoever they belong to.”1
Bharata considered that, on the basis of the above statement, the property of a servant belongs to his master.2 And so He wanted to give [the kingdom, which therefore belonged to Rāma, to Rāma].
Bharata then anticipated that Rāma might tell Him, “You should take care of and protect the kingdom Yourself,” and so spoke the next verse.