Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s20.37

c11.s20.37

It has been pointed out³, lastly, that while Kauṭilya prescribes at II 6 the recording of the year, month, *pakṣa* and the day in specifying dates, the inscriptions of Aśoka nowhere follow this system while an approach to it is seen in the Kuṣāṇa records which give the regnal year, season and day, and the exact adoption of the rule of Kauṭilya is found for the first time in the Girnar inscription of Rudradāman. Rudradāman’s inscription also employs the terms *praṇaya* and *viṣṭi* in the same senses as those known to KA. But this only shows that the composer of the Girnar praśasti may have known the KA, and means little for the date of that work. The Kuṣāṇa inscriptions do not follow the system of KA and may be left on one side ; Aśoka gives only the year from his coronation in his records and no other detail, evidently following the Persian models which he consciously followed. The Persian monarchs knew of a system of dating quite like that of the KA, but they did not employ it on all occasions, and the chronology of Darius's inscriptions is rather vague. Let us not forget also that the prescription in the KA regarding the manner of dating occurs in the chapter on revenue collection, and obviously bears a close relation to the form of accounts and is not connected with the issue of proclamations or edicts.