Shloka 17
Droṇācārya’s Assessment of the Pāṇḍavas: Nīti, Kāla, and Intelligence (विराटपर्व, अध्याय २६)
अत्यन्तं वा निगूढास्ते पारं चोर्मिमतो गता: । व्यालैश्वापि महारण्ये भक्षिता: शूरमानिन:
atyantaṃ vā nigūḍhās te pāraṃ cormimato gatāḥ | vyālaiś cāpi mahāraṇye bhakṣitāḥ śūramāninaḥ ||
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: «O bien están ocultos en algún lugar sumamente secreto, o han cruzado más allá de la lejana orilla del mar agitado por las olas. También es posible que esos Pāṇḍavas —que se tienen por grandes héroes— hayan sido devorados por enormes serpientes en aquel vasto bosque.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ignorance breeds conjecture and how pride in one’s own heroism (śūramāna) does not protect one from real dangers; ethical discernment requires restraint in assumptions and humility before uncertainty.
The speaker reports circulating possibilities about the Pāṇḍavas’ whereabouts: they may be deeply concealed, may have gone beyond the sea, or may have perished in the great forest—underscoring that their location and fate are unknown to others at this point.