Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 66, Shloka 25
अयोध्यायां शोकविलापः
Lamentation in Ayodhya after Daśaratha’s death
बाष्पपर्याकुलजना हाहाभूतकुलाङ्गना।शून्यचत्वरवेश्मान्ता न बभ्राज यथापुरम्।।।।
bāṣpaparyākulajanā hāhābhūtakulāṅganā |
śūnyacatvaraveśmāntā na babhrāja yathāpuram ||
With people distraught in tears, with household women crying out ‘alas, alas,’ and with courtyards and street-squares lying empty, the city no longer shone as it once had.
With the people of Ayodhya shedding tears, the housewives crying, in anguish, 'alas alas' the courtyards houses and squares of the roads deserted, the city has lost itsearlier brilliance.
FAQs
It illustrates how a kingdom’s moral and emotional well-being is tied to dharmic stability in the royal household; when injustice and loss strike the throne, ordinary civic life collapses.
The narrator depicts Ayodhyā’s public grief after the king’s death and the exile crisis.
The people’s loyalty and shared sense of righteousness is implied by their collective mourning and public lament.