Heroes Let Battle Speak
Bala Kanda, Doha 274
Doha 274 · Movement 2 of 2
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Lakshmana draws a hard distinction between valour and its advertisement. True heroes reveal themselves through deeds when battle comes. They do not need to announce their own greatness beforehand.
A coward behaves otherwise. Even with an enemy present upon the field, he spends his strength narrating the victories he wishes others to fear.
The doha turns the royal hall into a test sharper than the broken bow. Parashurama possesses immense and proven power, yet anger has trapped him in repeated self-proclamation before a smiling youth. Lakshmana attacks not the history of his deeds but the need to recite them. The insult asks whether past heroism can survive the vanity of being spoken aloud.
Where a hero lets the deed arise, a coward tries to make words perform the battle.
Read the passage from the Manas
सूर समर करनी करहिं कहि न जनावहिं आपु। बिद्यमान रन पाइ रिपु कायर कथहिं प्रतापु।।274।।
Heroes prove themselves through deeds in battle; they do not proclaim their own glory. Cowards boast of their valor when the enemy stands before them on the field.