Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 114, Shloka 13
अथवावासवेनत्वंधर्षितोऽपिमहाबल ।वासवस्यतुकाशक्तिस्त्वांद्रष्टुमपिसंयुगे ।।।।
athavā vāsavena tvaṃ dharṣito 'pi mahābala | vāsavasya tu kā śaktis tvāṃ draṣṭum api saṃyuge ||
Or else, O mighty one—though you may claim to have been challenged even by Vāsava (Indra)—what power has Indra to face you, even to look upon you, in battle?
"Or else O king of extraordinary might! Indra would have come to overthrow you in the form of Rama. Indra has no energy even to look at you in the battlefield."
FAQs
A negative lesson: adharma thrives on untruthful flattery. Inflated praise that denies reality undermines wise judgment and leads to ruin.
A speaker attempts to magnify Rāvaṇa’s might by claiming even Indra cannot face him—rhetoric that contrasts with the unfolding reality of his defeat.
By contrast, the virtue implied is satya (truthful counsel). The verse highlights how its absence (sycophancy) is destructive.