Shloka 2.114.11
अयोध्याप्रवेशः — Bharata Enters Ayodhya and Perceives the City’s Desolation
सहसा चलितां स्थानान्महीं पुण्यक्षयाद्गताम्।संवृतद्युतिविस्तारां तारामिव दिवश्च्युताम्।।2.114.11।।
sahasā calitāṃ sthānān mahīṃ puṇya-kṣayād gatām | saṃvṛta-dyuti-vistārāṃ tārām iva divaś cyutām ||
Ayodhyā looked like a star fallen from the heavens—suddenly displaced from its station, its wide radiance veiled, as though through the exhaustion of merit.
The verse invokes the moral universe of karma and puṇya: collective splendour and stability can fade when merit is ‘spent’—a reminder that dharma sustains prosperity.
The narrator continues describing Ayodhyā’s gloom after the upheaval in the royal house, using cosmic imagery.
Not a single virtue, but the theme that dharmic order supports social and cosmic harmony; its disturbance brings dimming and dislocation.