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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.61.4

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 61: Ayodhyā without a King. Ministers warn that food production, worship, trade and protection will fail without a ruler and ask Vasiṣṭha to arrange succession

In the sequence: they point out that Daśaratha is dead, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa are in the forest, and Bharata and Śatrughna are still with the Kekayas

2.61.4

atītā śarvarī duḥkhaṃ yā no varṣaśatopamā
asmin pañcatvam āpanne putraśokena pārthive

“Painfully has the night passed for us, a night that seemed like a hundred years, now that this king has met his death through grief for his son.

Words: atītā — has passed; śarvarī — the night; duḥkhaṃ — painfully, with sorrow; yā — which; no — for us; varṣaśatopamā — like a hundred years; asmin — when this; pañcatvam — death (the state of the five elements); āpanne — having met, reached; putraśokena — through grief for his son; pārthive — king

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.