Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.185

c11.185

The reign of Chandragupta was not altogether devoid of literary interest. We have already seen that tradition associates the authors of the *Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra* and the Jaina *Kalpasūtra* with his court. The existence of a body of literature including *Suttas*, *gāthās*, and *apadānas* in the early Maurya period is vouched for by the inscriptions of Aśoka¹. The reference to the story of Herakles and Pandaia² in the fragments of Megasthenes points to the popularity of epic tales (*ākhyānas*) in some shape. In explaining the statement of Megasthenes that the Indians had no written laws Bühler suggested that the Greek envoy took the term *Smṛiti* used by his informants in the sense "memory" instead of "sacred tradition concerning law" or "the law books"³. If this view be correct then a part at least of the *Smṛiti* literature was probably in existence in the days of Chandragupta. The *Indika* of Megasthenes, though largely based on personal observations of the famous ambassador, may have drawn upon texts of this type⁴ as well as myths and legends some of which had probably a place in the folk literature of the day.