Shloka 84
Varṇa-dharma and Rājadharma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Normative Outline (वर्णधर्म-राजधर्म-प्रश्नोत्तरम्)
अध्यायानां सहसैस्तु त्रिभिरेव बृहस्पति: । संचिक्षेपेश्वरो बुद्धया बार्हस्पत्यं तदुच्यते,इसके बाद सामर्थ्यशाली बृहस्पतिने अपनी बुद्धिसे इसका संक्षेप किया, तबसे इसमें तीन हजार अध्याय रह गये। यही “बार्हस्पत्य” नामक नीतिशास्त्र कहलाता है
adhyāyānāṁ sahasais tu tribhir eva bṛhaspatiḥ | saṁcikṣepēśvaro buddhyā bārhaspatyaṁ tad ucyate ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Doch dann verdichtete der mächtige Bṛhaspati es durch die Kraft seines Verstandes auf nur dreitausend Kapitel. Von da an wurde diese gekürzte Abhandlung über Staatskunst und Lebensführung „Bārhaspatya“ genannt (die Lehre Bṛhaspatis).
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
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).