Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s20.39

c11.s20.39

The author of the *Arthaśāstra* has been hailed on the one hand as the Indian Bismarck and a Realpolitiker, and dismissed on the other as a Pandit, a schematic theoretician whose logical categories had no relation to realities. An open-minded study of the entire work will reveal that there is some support from the work for either view; while the author does not shrink from pursuing traditional theories relentlessly to their logical conclusion as e.g. in the *maṇḍala* theory, still there are other sections of the work particularly the *adhyakṣa pracāra* which, like modern administrative manuals, deal with details of day to day work in public offices. And we should not omit to notice that in its concern for details of practical administration the *Arthaśāstra* is unique in the whole range of the Artha literature of ancient India. And some of its administrative terms like *puruṣa*, *yukta*, *mahāmātra* and so on re-appear in the edicts of Aśoka.