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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.18
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
2.106.18
prāvṛṣi pravigāḍhāyāṃ praviṣṭasyābhra maṇḍalam
pracchannāṃ nīlajīmūtair bhāskarasya prabhām iva
like the radiance of the sun that, when the rains are at their height, has entered the mass of clouds and is hidden by dark thunderheads.
Words: prāvṛṣi — in the rainy season; pravigāḍhāyāṃ — at its height, deepened; praviṣṭasyābhra — of (the sun) entered into the cloud-; maṇḍalam — -mass, circle; pracchannāṃ — concealed; nīlajīmūtair — by dark thunderclouds; bhāskarasya — of the sun; prabhām iva — like the radiance
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.