Varṇa-dharma and Rājadharma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Normative Outline (वर्णधर्म-राजधर्म-प्रश्नोत्तरम्)
अध्यायानां सहसैस्तु त्रिभिरेव बृहस्पति: । संचिक्षेपेश्वरो बुद्धया बार्हस्पत्यं तदुच्यते
adhyāyānāṁ sahasais tu tribhir eva bṛhaspatiḥ | saṁcikṣepēśvaro buddhyā bārhaspatyaṁ tad ucyate ||
ভীষ্মে ক’লে—তাৰ পিছত শক্তিমান বৃহস্পতিয়ে নিজৰ বুদ্ধিবলে তাকো সংক্ষিপ্ত কৰিলে; তেতিয়া ই কেৱল তিনি হাজাৰ অধ্যায়ত সীমাবদ্ধ হ’ল। তেতিয়াৰ পৰাই এই নীতিশাস্ত্ৰ ‘বাৰ্হস্পত্য’ নামে খ্যাত হ’ল।
भीष्म उवाच
The verse highlights the preservation of ethical and political wisdom through intelligent condensation: authoritative teachings can be abridged without losing their essential guidance, and such a redaction becomes a recognized tradition (here, the Bārhaspatya).
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he recounts how Brihaspati reduced a much larger body of material into a shorter work of three thousand chapters, which thereafter was known as the Bārhaspatya treatise on niti (conduct and governance).