Valmiki Ramayana 2.113.24: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 113, Shloka 24
पादुकाप्रदानं भरतस्य निवृत्तिश्च
The Sandals Bestowed; Bharata’s Return Toward Ayodhya
Spoken by Bharata to CharioteerSetting: Ayodhyā (viewpoint at entry/overlook)Places named: अयोध्याArrival—immediate perception of the city’s changed state
सारथे पश्य विध्वस्ता साऽयोध्या न प्रकाशते ।
निराकारा निरानन्दा दीना प्रतिहतस्वरा ॥२४॥
sārathe paśya vidhvastā sā ’yodhyā na prakāśate |
nirākārā nirānandā dīnā pratihatasvarā ||24||
Auriga, mira: Ayodhyā está devastada y ya no resplandece; parece sin forma, sin alegría, abatida y con sus voces apagadas.
Sandhi Notes
- sā’yodhyā → sā + ayodhyā (avagraha sandhi)
O charioteer, look, Ayodhya is in shapeless shambles. It is silent and cheerless. It is dull and desolate. It shines no more.ityārṣē śrīmadrāmāyaṇē vālmīkīya ādikāvyē ayōdhyākāṇḍē trayōdaśōraśatatamassargaḥ.Thus ends the hundredthirteenth sarga in Ayodhyakanda of the holy Ramayana, the first epic composed by sage Valmiki.
The teaching
A polity’s ‘radiance’ depends on dharma embodied in leadership; when that is absent, even prosperity becomes hollow.
Duties in tension
- राजधर्म: a capital must be protected and governed
- शोक-धर्म: collective mourning and personal grief
- सत्य-धर्म: uphold Rāma’s rightful kingship despite political pressure
- Ethical theme
- राजधर्म/सामाजिक-धर्म
- How it resolves
- Recognition leading to resolve (diagnosis of disorder before corrective dharmic action)
For your practice
Contemplation on impermanence of external splendor; encourages seeking inner ‘prakāśa’ through dharma and remembrance.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Shanta (peace)
- Mood
- Shattered, mute, desolate
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Maryada
- Grief
- Ethics
When the ‘light’ of identification (king/father/brothers) is gone, the same city appears ‘without form’—a lesson in how mind projects meaning onto phenomena.
‘न प्रकाशते’ recalls the Upaniṣadic concern with what truly illumines (inner light vs. external); here, worldly light is extinguished, hinting at the need for inner steadiness.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.112.1-2.113.2 (descriptions of Ayodhyā’s mourning atmosphere); Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.70-2.73 (Bharata’s lamentation tone)
Purāṇic/Itihāsa motif: a city losing ‘śrī’ when dharma-bearing ruler is absent
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Ayodhyā earlier described as radiant under Daśaratha (contrastive recall to Bālakāṇḍa/Ayodhyā descriptions)
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Grieving
Heavy kampita on विध्वस्ता/दीना; descending cadence to mirror ‘voices stilled’
FAQs
Satya (truthful perception) is part of dharma: Bharata names the city’s moral and emotional collapse, implying that a kingdom’s radiance depends on righteous presence and harmony, not mere walls and wealth.
Bharata directly addresses his charioteer upon seeing Ayodhyā’s bleak, silent condition after the king’s death and the princes’ absence.
Compassionate loyalty—Bharata’s pain shows attachment to rightful order and to his family, not ambition for rule.
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