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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.37.20

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 37: Daśaratha loses sight of Rāma and rejects Kaikeyī. The chariot’s dust disappears, Daśaratha falls, rejects Kaikeyī’s touch and returns to Kausalyā as his sight fails

In the sequence: he returns through the city's deserted streets, saying he cannot live without him

2.37.20

śūnyacatvaraveśmāntāṃ saṃvṛtāpaṇadevatām
klāntadurbaladuḥkhārtāṃ nātyākīrṇamahāpathām

Its squares and dwelling-quarters empty, its shops and temples shut up, its people worn, faint and grief-stricken, its great roads no longer thronged —

Words: śūnyacatvaraveśmāntāṃ — with empty squares and dwelling-precincts; saṃvṛtāpaṇadevatām — with shops and temples closed; klāntadurbaladuḥkhārtāṃ — weary, feeble and afflicted with grief; nātyākīrṇamahāpathām — with its great roads not overcrowded

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.