← 2.41.32 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 41: Rāma leaves the sleeping citizens

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.41.33

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.

2.41.33

tato yathāgatenaiva mārgeṇa klāntacetasaḥ
ayodhyām agaman sarve purīṃ vyathitasajjanām

Then, by the very road by which they had come, with weary hearts, they all went back to Ayodhyā, the city whose good folk were stricken with grief.

Words: tato — then; yathāgatenaiva — by the very (road) they had come; mārgeṇa — by the road; klāntacetasaḥ — with weary hearts; ayodhyām — to Ayodhyā; agaman — went; sarve — all; purīṃ — the city; vyathitasajjanām — whose good folk were distressed

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.