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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.41.29

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 41: Rāma leaves the sleeping citizens. Sumantra lays misleading tracks, Rāma crosses the Tamasā with Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa before the followers wake

In the sequence: the citizens wake, search for Rāma, follow the tracks briefly, and then lose them → unable to discover where he has gone, they return to Ayodhyā.

2.41.29

prabhātāyāṃ tu śarvaryāṃ paurās te rāghavo vinā
śokopahataniśceṣṭā babhūvur hatacetasaḥ

When night had brightened into dawn, those townsfolk, left without Rāghava, became motionless, struck down by grief, their wits shattered.

Words: prabhātāyāṃ — having brightened into dawn; tu — and; śarvaryāṃ — the night; paurās — the townsfolk; te — those; rāghavo — Rāghava; vinā — without; śokopahataniśceṣṭā — motionless, struck down by grief; babhūvur — became; hatacetasaḥ — their wits shattered

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.