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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.19.23

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 19: Daśaratha’s resistance: The army offered in Rāma’s place. Daśaratha resists sending the young Rāma, offers himself and his army instead and renews his refusal on hearing of Rāvaṇa’s power

In the sequence: Daśaratha admits he cannot face Rāvaṇa, whose power cannot be withstood by Devas, dānavas, gandharvas, yakṣas, patagas or pannagas, and again refuses to send Rāma → he nevertheless offers to fight Mārīca or Subāhu with his companions.

1.19.23

katham apy amaraprakhyaṃ saṃgrāmāṇām akovidam
bālaṃ me tanayaṃ brahman naiva dāsyāmi putrakam

By no means, O brahmin, will I give up my son — a mere child, godlike (though he is) yet unskilled in battles, my little boy.

Words: katham — how; apy — even, at all; amaraprakhyaṃ — godlike, resembling the immortals; saṃgrāmāṇām — of battles; akovidam — unskilled; bālaṃ — a child; me — my; tanayaṃ — son; brahman — O brahmin; naiva — by no means; dāsyāmi — I shall give; putrakam — (my) little son, dear boy

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.