Rama had said the chariot of true victory is a different chariot altogether. Now he begins to describe it, and Tulsidas opens his most famous metaphor. No wood went into this chariot, and no iron. It is the chariot within, forged from a person’s own virtues. Its first part is the one that gives the whole thing motion: the wheels.
सौरज धीरज तेहि रथ चाका।
सत्य सील दृढ़ ध्वजा पताका॥
Valor and fortitude are the two wheels of that chariot. Truth and good conduct are its firm flag and banner. Rama chooses these wheels with real discernment. Valor is courage; fortitude is steadfastness. Courage on its own grows rash and brings the whole thing down. Steadfastness on its own sits still and never moves. Only when both wheels turn together does the chariot roll forward. On one side, the power to press ahead; on the other, the strength to stop and steady yourself.
The banner is a chariot’s highest mark, the one thing visible from far off. Rama says that at that height, truth and good conduct should fly. A question rises here on its own, one you can put to yourself. What do we show the world? What is written on the highest banner of our lives? If the sign of truth and good conduct is waving up there, then know the chariot is on the right road.
It is worth noticing that nowhere in this chariot does Rama give room to anger or deceit. What comes first is the impulse to move: courage and steadfastness. Only after these do the parts of strength and conduct arrive. Tulsidas sets down each part in sequence, as though a skilled chariot-maker were fitting the chariot together with his own hands.
Source: Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Lankakanda