IIT Kanpur English Commentary

Modern synthesis of traditional Sanskrit commentaries (Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K.M.K. Murthy)

Valmiki's question names six specific qualities he wants to find embodied in one person: gunavan (of good character), viryavan (possessed of strength, including mastery of weapons), dharmajna (learned in the Vedic and Smriti sense of right conduct), krtajna (grateful -- someone who overlooks others' faults but remembers even a single kindness with real gratitude), satyavakya (truthful in what he reports having seen or heard), and drdhavrata (someone who holds to a vow even when adversity presses against it). These are not abstract virtues -- each has a specific, checkable meaning in the tradition, and the question is really asking whether all six have ever coincided in a single living person.