Shloka 6.114.69
रावणस्य अन्त्येष्टिः — Ravana’s Funeral Rites and the Ethics of Post-War Conduct
कातर्यं न च तेयुद्धेकदाचित्संस्मराम्यहम् ।।।।तत्तुभाग्यविपर्यासान्नूनंतेपक्वलक्षणम् ।
kātaryaṃ na ca te yuddhe kadācit saṃsmarāmy aham |
tat tu bhāgya-viparyāsān nūnaṃ te pakva-lakṣaṇam |
I do not recall you ever being timid in battle. Yet this cowardice has appeared—surely from a reversal of fate—and it is a ripened sign foretelling your ruin.
"Indeed, I do not remember you being cowardly in war. The timidness that appeared in you is a sign of the adverseness of fate, for your destruction."
Persistent adharma culminates in a decisive turning-point where one’s judgment collapses; moral failure ripens into inevitable downfall.
The speaker interprets Rāvaṇa’s uncharacteristic resort to cowardly tactics as an omen produced by a fatal reversal of fortune.
True bravery (vīrya) as consistent, open courage—shown here by its absence and lamented as a sign of collapse.