Shloka 6.97.14
सप्तनवतितमः सर्गः (Yuddha Kāṇḍa 97): Sugrīva’s Onslaught and the Fall of Virūpākṣa
अथसंक्षीयमाणेषुराक्षसेषुसमन्ततः ।सुग्रीवेणप्रभग्नेषुपतत्सुनिनदत्सु च ।।6.97.13।।विरूपाक्षस्स्वकंनामधन्वीविश्राव्यराक्षसः ।रथादाप्लुत्यदुर्धर्षोगजस्कन्धमुपारुहत् ।।6.97.14।।
virūpākṣaḥ svakaṃ nāma dhanvī viśrāvya rākṣasaḥ |
rathād āplutya durdharṣo gajaskandham upāruhat ||6.97.14||
Then Virūpākṣa—the rākṣasa hard to assail—bow in hand, proclaimed his own name and, leaping down from his chariot, mounted the back of an elephant in rut.
And thereafter, all the Rakshasas shattered by Sugriva, tormented, fallen on the ground were shouting. Seeing that Virupaksha, himself, who is difficult to encounter, holding his bow, announcing his name, jumped from the chariot onto an elephant in a rut.
It signals open, face-to-face combat rather than a hidden strike—an assertion of warrior identity in battle, which the epic often treats as closer to yuddha-maryādā (the norms of righteous warfare), even when performed by a rākṣasa.
By “making his name heard,” Virūpākṣa publicly declares who he is and what he is doing; this act of self-disclosure aligns with satya as openness in intent, though the broader conflict still evaluates actions by whether they uphold dharma in war.