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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.42.25

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: throughout the city, people mourn Rāma as someone dearer than their own children.

2.42.25

tās tathā vilapantyas tu nagare nāgarastriyaḥ
cukruśur bhṛśasaṃtaptā mṛtyor iva bhayāgame

Thus lamenting in the city, the townswomen cried aloud, sorely tormented, as if at the onset of the terror of death.

Words: tās — those; tathā — thus; vilapantyas — lamenting; tu — and; nagare — in the city; nāgarastriyaḥ — the city-women; cukruśur — cried out; bhṛśasaṃtaptā — sorely tormented; mṛtyor — of death; iva — as if; bhayāgame — at the coming of terror

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.