Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s20.40

c11.s20.40

Considering its age and its technical character, we have reason to think that the text tradition of the KA has been quite good. Its length is indicated as 6,000 *ślokas* in the text itself and by Daṇḍin; and our text, according to Dr. Shama Sastri is of about the same extent.¹ But scribal errors, particularly in the transcription of unfamiliar geographical names about which Bühler has uttered a clear warning, and occasional interpolations or even rehandlings of parts of the text are not altogether ruled out of the range of probability. In a very useful and penetrating analysis of the *Śāsanādhikāra* (II 10)², Stein has sought to establish that this chapter as it stands bears a composite appearance and shows signs of having been remodelled in the light of Roman Imperial letters of a later time. But in the opinion of the present writer the *Arthaśāstra* has stood the test of very vigorous criticism for so long that its genuineness must now be recognised to have been placed beyond doubt and that, with minor reservations, the work may properly be looked upon as the authentic production of the scholar and statesman who took a hand in the foundation of the Mauryan empire.