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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.20

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: Bharata asks why the music, pleasant scents, traffic, horses, elephants, and well-dressed crowds of former days are gone

2.106.20

kiṃ nu khalv adya gambhīro mūrchito na niśamyate
yathāpuram ayodhyāyāṃ gītavāditraniḥsvanaḥ

“Why is it that today the deep, swelling sound of song and instruments is not heard in Ayodhyā, as it used to be?

Words: kiṃ nu khalv — why indeed; adya — today; gambhīro — deep; mūrchito — swelling, intensified; na niśamyate — is not heard; yathāpuram — as before; ayodhyāyāṃ — in Ayodhyā; gītavāditraniḥsvanaḥ — the sound of song and instruments

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.