Shloka 12
Droṇācārya’s Assessment of the Pāṇḍavas: Nīti, Kāla, and Intelligence (विराटपर्व, अध्याय २६)
नदीकुज्जेषु तीर्थेषु ग्रामेषु नगरेषु च । आश्रमेषु च रम्येषु पर्वतेषु गुहासु च
nadīkūñjeṣu tīrtheṣu grāmeṣu nagareṣu ca | āśrameṣu ca ramyeṣu parvateṣu guhāsu ca ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : «Que de nombreux agents secrets — ardents à mener la mission à bien, intelligents, habiles à reconnaître les gens, et eux-mêmes experts à agir dans l’ombre — partent à la recherche des Pāṇḍava. Qu’ils les cherchent dans les bosquets des rives, aux gués sacrés, dans les villages et les cités, dans de plaisants ermitages, et aussi dans les montagnes et les grottes.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a pragmatic aspect of kingship: careful intelligence-gathering and disciplined secrecy can be necessary tools in protecting or pursuing rightful aims. Ethically, it implies that strategy should be guided by discernment and purpose, not by reckless suspicion—agents must be competent, restrained, and focused on the mission.
The narration describes an organized search for the Pāṇḍavas, who are believed to be living in concealment. The instruction is to deploy numerous skilled spies to look across likely hiding places—river groves, pilgrimage sites, settlements, hermitages, mountains, and caves.