Shloka 14
सीताव्यथा
वर्णनम् / Sītā’s Distress and Rāvaṇa’s Attempt at Coercive Allurement
पद्मिनीमिव विध्वस्तां हतशूरां चमूमिव।प्रभामिव तमोध्वस्तामुपक्षीणामिवापगाम्।।।।
padminīm iva vidhvastāṃ hataśūrāṃ camūm iva |
prabhām iva tamodhvastām upakṣīṇām ivāpagām ||
Sie war wie ein verwüsteter Lotosteich; wie ein Heer, dessen Helden erschlagen sind; wie ein Glanz, von Dunkelheit erstickt; wie ein Bach, der versiegt und erschöpft ist.
(She was) like the altar of worship defiled, blazing fire extinguished, and the Moon eclipsed by Rahu in the full moon night.
FAQs
Dharma is aligned with light, vitality, and protection; adharma appears as darkness and devastation. The verse uses nature and battlefield imagery to show how wrongdoing drains life and order.
The poet continues portraying Sītā’s weakened, sorrowful state through powerful comparisons to ruined natural and human scenes.
Endurance under assault: even when ‘radiance is covered,’ Sītā’s essential purity is implied as light that is obscured, not extinguished.