Shloka 5.19.9
सीताव्यथा-वर्णनम् / Sītā’s Distress and Rāvaṇa’s Attempt at Coercive Allurement
वेष्टमानां तथाऽविष्टां पन्नगेन्द्रवधूमिव।धूप्यमानां ग्रहेणेव रोहिणीं धूमकेतुना।।।।
veṣṭamānāṃ tathā''viṣṭāṃ pannagendravadhūm iva |
dhūpyamānāṃ graheṇeva rohiṇīṃ dhūmaketunā ||
Sitting thus, tightly wrapped and as if seized by sorrow, she looked like the serpent-king’s queen coiled upon herself—like Rohiṇī, as though veiled and made to “smoke” beneath a baleful planet, a comet.
Sitting in that manner she resembled a coiled serpent queen, the star Rohini overshadowed by a smoking comet (that is Ravana).
The verse highlights how adharma (coercion and unlawful possession) darkens and diminishes what is pure; Sītā’s steadfastness implies dharma as inner integrity even when externally oppressed.
Hanumān, hidden in Laṅkā, looks upon Sītā in Aśoka-vana and sees her overwhelmed by grief and confinement, expressed through ominous celestial similes.
Sītā’s satya and śīla (truthfulness and moral purity): though ‘overshadowed,’ she remains the same luminous person, not consenting inwardly to wrongdoing.