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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.13

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 106: Bharata returns without Rāma. Ayodhyā resembles an extinguished fire and deserted altar, he laments its emptiness and reaches Daśaratha’s residence

In the sequence: the narrative pauses over its emptiness through a series of comparisons: an extinguished fire, a defeated army, an abandoned altar, a damaged watering place, and a sky without its familiar lights

2.106.13

saṃmūḍhanigamāṃ sarvāṃ saṃkṣiptavipaṇāpaṇām
pracchannaśaśinakṣatrāṃ dyām ivāmbudharair vṛtām

the whole city with its trade-roads bewildered and its markets and shops shut up, like the sky veiled by rain-clouds, its moon and stars concealed;

Words: saṃmūḍhanigamāṃ — with bewildered trade-roads; sarvāṃ — whole; saṃkṣiptavipaṇāpaṇām — with markets and shops drawn shut; pracchannaśaśinakṣatrāṃ — with moon and stars concealed; dyām — the sky; ivāmbudharair — as if by clouds; vṛtām — covered

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.