Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 42: The citizens return to Ayodhyā without Rāma · 2.42.2 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.42.1

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 42: The citizens return to Ayodhyā without Rāma. Families reproach the men for returning without Rāma and imagine abandoning Kaikeyī’s Kingdom to join him

In the sequence: The returning citizens reach their families in despair; shops and household cooking remain neglected

2.42.1

anugamya nivṛttānāṃ rāmaṃ nagaravāsinām
udgatānīva sattvāni babhūvur amanasvinām

Of the city-dwellers who had followed Rāma and turned back, disheartened, the very life-spirits seemed to have gone out.

Words: anugamya — having followed; nivṛttānāṃ — of those who had turned back; rāmaṃ — Rāma; nagaravāsinām — of the city-dwellers; udgatānīva — as if gone out; sattvāni — life-spirits, vital breaths; babhūvur — became; amanasvinām — of the disheartened

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.