← 2.105.23 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 105: Bharata carries the sandals home

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.105.24

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 105: Bharata carries the sandals home. The company circles Citrakūṭa, Bharata reports Rāma’s decision to Bharadvāja and recrosses the Yamunā & Gaṅgā toward Ayodhyā

In the sequence: the company crosses the Yamunā and Gaṅgā, passes through Śṛṅgaverapura, and continues toward Ayodhyā → as he approaches home, Bharata again notices its desolation.

2.105.24

sārathe paśya vidhvastā ayodhyā na prakāśate
nirākārā nirānandā dīnā pratihatasvanā

“Charioteer, look — Ayodhyā, laid waste, shines no more; formless, joyless, forlorn, its sounds all stilled.”

Words: sārathe — O charioteer; paśya — look; vidhvastā — laid waste, shattered; ayodhyā — Ayodhyā; na prakāśate — shines not; nirākārā — formless; nirānandā — joyless; dīnā — forlorn, wretched; pratihatasvanā — its sounds stilled

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.