Shloka 4.14.4
किष्किन्धायां सुग्रीवस्य नादः — Sugriva’s War-Cry at Kishkindha
अथ बालार्कसदृशो दृप्तसिंहगतिस्तदा4.14.4।।दृष्ट्वा रामं क्रियादक्षं सुग्रीवो वाक्यमब्रवीत्।
dravanti ca mṛgāḥ śīghraṁ bhagnā iva raṇe hayāḥ |
patanti ca khagā bhūmau kṣīṇapuṇyā iva grahāḥ || 4.14.21 ||
Deer bolted swiftly, like horses broken in battle; and birds dropped to the ground, like heavenly bodies that fall when their merit is spent.
Sugriva, proficient in the performance of any task, one who appeared like the rising Sun and moved like a proud lion, said to Rama:
The simile of ‘merit exhausted’ reflects the dharmic worldview that moral force (puṇya) sustains stability; when it declines, downfall follows—an ethical-cosmic linkage common in Itihasa.
The natural world reacts dramatically to the tumult of the challenge—animals flee and birds fall, intensifying the scene’s portent.
Not a direct virtue, but the verse magnifies the awe-inspiring power of the moment, implying the seriousness with which dharmic conflicts shake the world.