Shloka 2.99.9
चित्रकूटप्राप्तिः — Bharata Reaches Chitrakuta and Beholds Rama
मन्ये प्राप्ताः स्म तं देशं भरद्वाजो यमब्रवीत्।नातिदूरे हि मन्येऽहं नदीं मन्दाकिनीमितः।।2.99.9।।
tān pārthivān vāraṇa-yūthapābhān samāgatāṁs tatra mahaty araṇye |
vanaukasaḥ te ’pi samīkṣya sarve ’py aśrūṇy amuñcan pravihāya harṣam || 2.99.42 ||
Seeing those royal princes assembled there in the great forest—radiant like leaders of elephant herds—even the forest-dwellers, setting aside joy, could only shed tears.
We must have reached the region about which Bharadwaja had spoken. I think river Mandakini is not far from here.
Shared humanity as dharma: even outsiders (forest-dwellers) respond with compassion to righteous suffering, showing that virtue evokes empathy beyond social boundaries.
At the sarga’s close, the gathering of the princes in the forest moves the local inhabitants to tears rather than celebration.
Compassion and sensitivity—grief is not weakness here; it is an ethical response to the injustice and pain surrounding dharmic exile.