Shloka 2.66.28
अयोध्यायां शोकविलापः — Lamentation in Ayodhya after Daśaratha’s death
गतप्रभा द्यौरिव भास्करं विना व्यपेतनक्षत्रगणेव शर्वरी।पुरी बभासे रहिता महात्मना न चास्रकण्ठाऽकुलमार्गचत्वरा।।।।
gataprabhā dyaur iva bhāskaraṃ vinā vyapetanakṣatragaṇeva śarvarī |
purī babhāse rahitā mahātmanā na cāśrakaṇṭhākulamārgacatvarā ||
Bereft of that great-souled king, the city lost its radiance—like the sky without the sun, like a night emptied of its host of stars; and its streets and squares were filled with choking sobs.
The city, bereft of illustrious Dasaratha was filled with people sobbing in the courtyards in front of their houses and in the squares in between. That city of Ayodhya bereft of brightness, appeared like the day without the Sun and the night without constellations of stars.
The verse implies that dharmic kingship is a ‘light’ for society; when that support is removed, the collective psyche falls into darkness and confusion.
The narrator continues describing Ayodhyā’s condition after Daśaratha’s death: a cityscape transformed by grief.
Daśaratha’s role as a sustaining moral centre for the city is emphasized through the imagery of lost celestial light.