Shloka 27
Dvaipāyana-hrade Duryodhanasya Māyā — Yudhiṣṭhirasya Dharmoktiḥ (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 30)
तेषां श्रुत्वा च संवादं राज्ञश्न सलिले सतः । व्याधाभ्यजाननू् राजेन्द्र सलिलस्थं सुयोधनम्
teṣāṃ śrutvā ca saṃvādaṃ rājñaś ca salile sataḥ | vyādhābhyajānannū rājendra salilasthaṃ suyodhanam ||
Sañjaya said: Hearing that conversation of those men with the king who was staying in the water, the hunters understood, O best of kings, that Suyodhana (Duryodhana) was concealed there in the lake.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how concealment and evasion in a moral crisis are fragile: speech and circumstance reveal truth. It also underscores the inevitability of accountability in war—attempts to hide from consequences are uncovered through observation and inference.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that hunters, after overhearing a dialogue with the king who was staying in the water, deduced that Duryodhana (Suyodhana) was hidden in that very lake.