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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.4
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
2.106.4
alpoṣṇakṣubdhasalilāṃ gharmottaptavihaṃgamām
līnamīnajhaṣagrāhāṃ kṛśāṃ girinadīm iva
like a shrunken mountain-stream, its scant water warm and troubled, its birds scorched by heat, its minnows, fish, and crocodiles lurking hidden;
Words: alpoṣṇakṣubdhasalilāṃ — with scant, warm, troubled water; gharmottaptavihaṃgamām — its birds scorched by heat; līnamīnajhaṣagrāhāṃ — with minnows, fish, and crocodiles hidden; kṛśāṃ — shrunken, thin; girinadīm iva — like a mountain-river
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.