Shloka 83

Devanagari script

भगवानपि तच्छास्त्रं संचिक्षेप पुरंदर: | सहस्रै: पञ्चभिस्तात यदुक्त बाहुदन्‍तकम्‌,महातपस्वी सुब्रह्मण्य भगवान्‌ पुरन्दरने जब इसका अध्ययन किया, उस समय इसमें दस हजार अध्याय थे। फिर उन्होंने भी इसका संक्षेप किया, जिससे यह पाँच हजार अध्यायोंका ग्रन्थ हो गया। तात! वही ग्रन्थ “बाहुदनतक” नामक नीतिशास्त्रके रूपमें विख्यात हुआ

Transliteration

bhagavān api tacchāstraṃ saṃcikṣepa puraṃdaraḥ | sahasraiḥ pañcabhis tāta yad uktaṃ bāhudantakam ||

Translation

ভীষ্ম বললেন—ভগবান পুরন্দর (ইন্দ্র)ও সেই শাস্ত্রকে সংক্ষিপ্ত করেছিলেন। প্রিয় বৎস! যে উপদেশ ‘বাহুদন্তক’ নামে পরিচিত নীতিশাস্ত্র ছিল, তা পাঁচ হাজার অধ্যায়ে সংকলিত হলো; পূর্বে তা ছিল বহু সহস্র অধ্যায়ে বিস্তৃত।

Word by Word

• {'bhagavān': 'the venerable/lordly one

• an honorific for a divine or exalted person', 'api': 'also, even', 'tat-śāstram': 'that treatise

• that authoritative text on policy/ethics', 'saṃcikṣepa': 'abridged, condensed, made a compendium', 'puraṃdaraḥ': 'Purandara

• epithet of Indra, ‘destroyer of cities/forts’', 'sahasraiḥ pañcabhiḥ': 'with five thousands

• consisting of five thousand (units/chapters/sections)', 'tāta': 'dear one/child

• affectionate address', 'yad uktam': 'which was spoken/taught

• that which was expounded', 'bāhudantakam': 'Bāhudantaka

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Purandara (Indra)
• Bāhudantaka (nītiśāstra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Authoritative guidance on ethical governance (nīti) is preserved and made usable through careful condensation; even divine authorities like Indra are portrayed as editors who distill vast instruction into practical compendia for rulers.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction during Śānti Parva, he recounts the transmission history of a political-ethical treatise: Indra (Purandara) condensed ‘that śāstra’ into a five-thousand-section work known as Bāhudantaka, emphasizing its recognized status as a nītiśāstra.