Shloka 83

Varṇa-dharma and Rājadharma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Normative Outline (वर्णधर्म-राजधर्म-प्रश्नोत्तरम्)

Devanagari script

भगवानपि तच्छास्त्रं संचिक्षेप पुरंदर: | सहस्रै: पञ्चभिस्तात यदुक्त बाहुदन्‍तकम्‌

Transliteration

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

Translation

Dijo Bhīṣma: Incluso el venerable Purandara (Indra) abreviò aquel tratado. Hijo mío, lo que se enseñó como la obra llamada «Bāhudantaka» llegó a ser un compendio de cinco mil secciones: un manual autorizado de política y de gobierno conforme al dharma, destilado de un cuerpo de instrucción mucho más vasto.

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.