Shloka 2.114.17

अयोध्याप्रवेशः — Bharata Enters Ayodhya and Perceives the City’s Desolation

Devanagari script

सहसा युद्धशौण्डेन हयारोहेण वाहिताम्। निहतां प्रतिसैन्येन वडवामिव पातिताम्।।2.114.17।।

Transliteration

vipulāṃ vitatāṃ caiva yuktapāśāṃ tarasvinām | bhūmau bāṇair viniṣkṛttāṃ patitāṃ jyām ivāyudhāt || 2.114.16 ||

Translation

It lay on the ground like a bowstring loosed from a weapon—broad and stretched, fitted with fastening-loops, yet severed by arrows and fallen down.

Characters & Entities

• Ayodhyā

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

The image of something ‘severed’ and fallen suggests the rupture of rightful order; dharma is portrayed as a sustaining tension (like a bowstring) whose loss collapses the city’s vitality.

What is the narrative situation?

Ayodhya is being depicted through a sequence of similes as emptied and broken in spirit after Rama’s banishment.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

Rama’s centrality to civic well-being is implied; the city’s fall mirrors the absence of the dharmic exemplar.