Shloka 5.54.34
लङ्कादाहः — The Burning of Lanka (Catuḥpañcāśaḥ Sargaḥ)
तत्राम्बरादग्निरतिप्रवृद्धो रूक्षप्रभः किंशुकपुष्पचूडः।निर्वाणधूमाकुलराजयश्च नीलोत्पलाभाः प्रचकाशिरेऽभ्राः।।।।
tatrāmbarād agnir atipravṛddho rūkṣaprabhaḥ kiṁśukapuṣpa-cūḍaḥ |
nirvāṇa-dhūmākula-rājayaś ca nīlotpalābhāḥ pracakāśire ’bhrāḥ ||
There the fire, flaring up violently into the sky, blazed with a harsh brilliance, crowned as it were with the red of kiṁśuka blossoms. And the clouds, streaked and thick with the smoke from the dying embers, shone like blue lotuses.
The dazzling flames of fire red like kimsuka flowers shot up violently into the sky. The clouds engulfed by the smoke rising from the subsiding fire was shining like the lustre of blue lotuses .
The verse underscores karmic consequence in the moral universe of the Rāmāyaṇa: destructive forces arise as a response to adharma, and the narrative frames even terrifying spectacle within an ordered ethical cosmos.
After Hanumān sets Laṅkā ablaze, the conflagration surges upward; smoke and clouds fill the sky, and the epic describes the scene with vivid natural imagery.
Hanumān’s vīrya (heroic power) is implied through the scale of the blaze, reflecting steadfast resolve in service to Rāma’s righteous mission.