Shloka 2.48.9
अयोध्यायाः शोकवर्णनम् (Ayodhya’s Lament and Civic Desolation)
आपगाः कृतपुण्यास्ता पद्मिन्यश्च सरांसि च।येषु स्नास्यति काकुत्स्थो विगाह्य सलिलं शुचि।।2.48.9।।
āpagāḥ kṛtapuṇyās tāḥ padminyaś ca sarāṃsi ca |
yeṣu snāsyati kākutstho vigāhya salilaṃ śuci ||2.48.9||
Blessed are those rivers, lotus-ponds, and lakes—surely they have earned merit—for it is in their pure waters that Kakutstha (Rāma) will enter and bathe.
The rivers and the lotus-pools have done some meritorious acts in the past as a result of which Rama having plunged into their holy waters will make his ablution.
The verse reflects the dhārmic idea that contact with a supremely righteous person sanctifies the world; nature itself is seen as ‘meritorious’ for receiving Rāma.
Ayodhyā’s mourners imagine Rāma’s forest journey and praise the waters that will be graced by his bathing.
Rāma’s purity and sanctifying presence are emphasized—his conduct makes even ordinary waters ‘holy’ in the eyes of devotees.