← 2.94.29 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 94: Rāma questions Bharata’s governance · 2.94.31 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.94.30
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 loyal supporters, capable envoys, and intelligence gathered through three unrecognized spies for each of eighteen enemy officials and fifteen of Bharata's own → he warns against underestimating defeated enemies who return, and against relying on teachers of materialist reasoning whom he considers misleading.
2.94.30
kaccid aṣṭādaśāny eṣu svapakṣe daśa pañca ca
tribhis tribhir avijñātair vetsi tīrthāni cārakaiḥ
Do you keep watch, through three unknown spies for each, on the eighteen high officials of the foe and the fifteen on your own side?
Words: kaccid — is it that; aṣṭādaśāny — the eighteen; eṣu — among these; svapakṣe — on one's own side; daśa — ten; pañca — five; ca — and; tribhis — by three; tribhir — by three (each); avijñātair — unknown, unrecognized; vetsi — you keep track of; tīrthāni — the (vulnerable) posts, key offices; cārakaiḥ — by spies
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.