Shloka 5.19.18
सीताव्यथा-वर्णनम् / Sītā’s Distress and Rāvaṇa’s Attempt at Coercive Allurement
सुकुमारीं सुजाताङ्गीं रत्नगर्भगृहोचिताम्।तप्यमानामिवोष्णेन मृणालीमचिरोद्धृताम्।।।।
patiśokāturāṃ śuṣkāṃ nadīṃ visrāvitām iva |
parayā mṛjayā hīnāṃ kṛṣṇapakṣaniśām iva ||
Tormented by grief for her husband, she looked parched—like a river whose stream has thinned and dried, no longer fit for full ablution—like a night of the dark fortnight, stripped of its glow.
A delicate lady with beautiful limbs who deserved to be in a gem-crusted house was (now) like a lotus stem just plucked out and scorched by the Sun's heat.
Dharma includes steadfast loyalty and truth in relationships; separation inflicted by adharma causes profound suffering. The verse frames grief as a drying of life’s ‘flow’—a moral indictment of coercion.
Sītā’s sorrow from separation is foregrounded, showing how captivity erodes vitality and outward auspiciousness.
Constancy: her pain arises from unwavering devotion to Rāma and commitment to satya, not from wavering or compromise.