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 ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「任務達成に励み、聡明で、人を見分ける術に長け、しかも自らも隠密に働くことに巧みな密偵を多く遣わし、パーンダヴァたちを捜させよ。河岸の林、聖なる渡し、村々と都、心安らぐアーシュラマ、さらに山々と洞窟に至るまで探らせるのだ。」
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.