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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.94.21

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 94: Rāma questions Bharata’s governance. He asks after the family, advisers, spies, troop provisions, water, revenue and impartial justice, still unaware of Daśaratha’s death

In the sequence: he asks about trustworthy appointments, military leadership, treatment of officers, and timely food and pay for troops

2.94.21

amātyān upadhātītān pitṛpaitāmahāñ śucīn
śreṣṭhāñ śreṣṭheṣu kaccit tvaṃ niyojayasi karmasu

Do you appoint to the highest offices ministers who have passed the tests of integrity, inherited from your fathers and grandfathers, pure, and the best in the best of tasks?

Words: amātyān — ministers; upadhātītān — who have passed the tests (of integrity); pitṛpaitāmahāñ — (inherited) from father and grandfather; śucīn — pure; śreṣṭhāñ — the best; śreṣṭheṣu — in the best (offices); kaccit — is it that; tvaṃ — you; niyojayasi — you appoint; karmasu — in tasks, offices

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.