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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.16

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara. She reports the fourteen deaths, threatens to die and tells him to fight Rāma or abandon Janasthāna

In the sequence: turning from appeal to insult, she questions whether he can face Rāma at all and calls his reputation for valor empty

3.20.16

śūramānī na śūras tvaṃ mithyāropitavikramaḥ
mānuṣau yan na śaknoṣi hantuṃ tau rāmalakṣmaṇau

You fancy yourself a hero but are no hero; your valour is falsely claimed — since you cannot slay those two men, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa.

Words: śūramānī — fancying yourself a hero; na śūras — no hero; tvaṃ — you; mithyāropitavikramaḥ — whose valour is falsely attributed; mānuṣau — two men, mortals; yan — since, in that; na śaknoṣi — you cannot; hantuṃ — to slay; tau — those two; rāmalakṣmaṇau — Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. 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.