Ramayana — Sundara Kanda, Sarga 5, Shloka 26
चन्द्रप्रकाशे लङ्कानिरीक्षणम्
Moonlit Survey of Lanka and the Unfound Sita
अव्यक्तरेखामिव चन्द्ररेखां पांसुप्रदिग्धामिव हेमरेखाम्।क्षतप्ररूढामिव बाणरेखां वायुप्रभिन्नामिव मेघरेखाम्।।5.5.26।।
avyakta-rekhām iva candra-rekhāṃ pāṃsu-pradigdhām iva hema-rekhām | kṣata-prarūḍhām iva bāṇa-rekhāṃ vāyu-prabhinnām iva megha-rekhām ||5.5.26||
Baginda membayangkan baginda puteri itu bagaikan garis bulan yang samar; bagaikan jalur emas yang diselaputi debu; bagaikan parut luka anak panah yang baru pulih di permukaan; dan bagaikan helaian awan yang dikoyak angin.
She would be like a barely visible ray of the Moon, like a streak of gold covered with dust, like an unhealed scar of a wound caused by an arrow only superficially covered and like a flake of cloud swept off by the wind.
FAQs
The verse underscores the harm caused by adharma (unrighteous captivity): Sītā’s radiance is imagined as obscured and fractured, implying that injustice degrades the natural dignity of the virtuous.
Hanumān continues his inward contemplation, using layered similes to imagine how suffering may have diminished Sītā’s outward brightness.
Moral imagination in Hanumān—he uses poetic insight to grasp the depth of another’s suffering, not merely factual observation.