Shloka 4.9.19
वालि–मायावी–बिलप्रवेशः (Vali’s Pursuit of Mayavi and the Cave Episode)
अहं त्ववगतो बुद्ध्या चिह्नैस्तैर्भ्रातरं हतम्।पिधाय च बिलद्वारं शिलया गिरिमात्रया4.9.19।।शोकार्तश्चोदकं कृत्वा किष्किन्धामागतस्सखे।गूहमानस्य मे तत्त्वं यत्नतो मन्त्रिभिश्श्रुतम्4.9.20।।
ahaṃ tv avagato buddhyā cihnais tair bhrātaraṃ hatam | pidhāya ca biladvāraṃ śilayā girimātrayā || 4.9.19 ||
śokārtaś codakaṃ kṛtvā kiṣkindhām āgataḥ sakhe | gūhamānasya me tattvaṃ yatnato mantribhiḥ śrutam || 4.9.20 ||
O friend, by those signs I understood that my brother had been slain. I sealed the cave’s mouth with a rock as vast as a mountain; then, stricken with grief, I performed the water-offering for the departed and returned to Kiṣkindhā. Though I sought to conceal the truth, the ministers learned it through careful effort.
'O friend! by those signs I understood that my brother was killed and concluding that way I blocked the entrance of the cave with a rock of the size of a mountain and offered oblations to my brother and came to Kishkinda. I intended to hide the fact of Vali's death. But the ministers came to know the truth with their efforts.
Dharma requires both rite and truth: Sugrīva performs the proper funerary offering, yet the narrative also stresses satya—truth surfaces despite attempts to conceal it.
Sugrīva infers Vāli’s death from signs, seals the cave, performs rites, returns to Kiṣkindhā, and tries to hide the matter; ministers uncover the reality.
A sense of ritual responsibility (śrāddha-like duty) alongside political caution; the ministers’ diligence also highlights commitment to truth.