Ramayana — Sundara Kanda, Sarga 19, Shloka 15
सीताव्यथा
वर्णनम् / Sītā’s Distress and Rāvaṇa’s Attempt at Coercive Allurement
वेदीमिव परामृष्टां शान्तामग्निशिखामिव।पौर्णमासीमिव निशां राहुग्रस्तेन्दुमण्डलाम्।।।।
vedīm iva parāmṛṣṭāṃ śāntām agniśikhām iva |
paurṇamāsīm iva niśāṃ rāhugrastendumaṇḍalām ||
Dia bagaikan altar korban yang dinajiskan; bagaikan nyala api yang telah padam; bagaikan malam purnama ketika cakra bulan digenggam Rahu (gerhana).
(She appeared) like a lotus-pond the excellent leaves of whose lotuses surrounded by frightened birds are destroyed by the trunks of elephants.
FAQs
The sacred must not be violated: defiling an altar symbolizes adharma’s assault on sanctity. Yet like an eclipse, the obscuration is temporary—truth and dharma ultimately re-emerge.
Sītā’s loss of outward auspiciousness is portrayed with ritual and cosmic images (altar, fire, eclipse) to convey captivity’s spiritual violence.
Purity: the imagery suggests Sītā is not ‘impure’ by nature—rather, purity is being forcibly covered, like the moon during an eclipse.