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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.60.18
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 60: Daśaratha’s body preserved in oil. Kausalyā blames Kaikeyī, the ministers place the body in an oil trough and await a son before cremation
In the sequence: the palace and city continue mourning, and the people openly condemn Kaikeyī.
2.60.18
gataprabhā dyaur iva bhāskaraṃ vinā vyapetanakṣatragaṇeva śarvarī
purī babhāse rahitā mahātmanā na cāsrakaṇṭhākulamārgacatvarā
Like the sky whose brightness is gone without the sun, like a night from which the host of stars has departed, the city appeared, forsaken by its great-souled king, its roads and squares no longer thronged, its throats choked with tears.
Words: gataprabhā — with its splendor gone; dyaur iva — like the sky; bhāskaraṃ — the sun; vinā — without; vyapetanakṣatragaṇeva — like (a night) whose host of stars has departed; śarvarī — night; purī — the city; babhāse — appeared, showed; rahitā — bereft, forsaken; mahātmanā — by the great-souled (king); na cāsrakaṇṭhākulamārgacatvarā — and its streets and squares no longer thronged, throats choked with tears
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.