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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.54.24

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 54: Story of Viśvāmitra: Defeat, Śiva’s weapons and retaliation. His army and sons are destroyed, Viśvāmitra wins Śiva’s weapons through austerity and returns to burn Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage

In the sequence: he returns and burns the hermitage with his missiles → munis, pupils, animals, and birds flee, leaving it deserted

1.54.24

vasiṣṭhasyāśramapadaṃ śūnyam āsīn mahātmanaḥ
muhūrtam iva niḥśabdam āsīd īriṇasaṃnibham

The hermitage of the great-souled Vasiṣṭha became empty; for a moment it was silent, resembling a barren waste.

Words: vasiṣṭhasyāśramapadaṃ — the hermitage of Vasiṣṭha; śūnyam — empty; āsīn — became; mahātmanaḥ — of the great-souled one; muhūrtam — for a moment; iva — as it were; niḥśabdam — silent, soundless; āsīd — was; īriṇasaṃnibham — resembling a barren waste

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.