Shloka 5.19.15
सीताव्यथा-वर्णनम् / Sītā’s Distress and Rāvaṇa’s Attempt at Coercive Allurement
वेदीमिव परामृष्टां शान्तामग्निशिखामिव।पौर्णमासीमिव निशां राहुग्रस्तेन्दुमण्डलाम्।।।।
padminīm iva vidhvastāṃ hataśūrāṃ camūm iva |
prabhām iva tamodhvastām upakṣīṇām ivāpagām ||
She was like a lotus-pond laid waste; like an army whose heroes had been slain; like radiance smothered by darkness; like a stream run down and exhausted.
(She was) like the altar of worship defiled, blazing fire extinguished, and the Moon eclipsed by Rahu in the full moon night.
Dharma is aligned with light, vitality, and protection; adharma appears as darkness and devastation. The verse uses nature and battlefield imagery to show how wrongdoing drains life and order.
The poet continues portraying Sītā’s weakened, sorrowful state through powerful comparisons to ruined natural and human scenes.
Endurance under assault: even when ‘radiance is covered,’ Sītā’s essential purity is implied as light that is obscured, not extinguished.